The Gaian Seas: Makings of A Crew
by yoshiman32892
Summary: (An OC driven story) At this moment of time, Yoshi, the pirate of Durem's crew is small, but he is gathering great friends in his adventures. Read the first volume of his great tale, "Makings of A Crew" (*Volume 1 of "The Gaian Seas")
1. The Pirate of Durem

_Galing winds and giant waves, blistering cold and booming skies, these are conditions no one would dare sail. Yet one lone grand ship with a crimson flag braves the oceans wrath. Aboard the vessel is the lone, brave or foolish pirate who dares challenge the waters might. The lone pirate clad in red and black looked with a face of determination as the biggest of waves swiftly approached, he did not change his course and sailed head on toward the monstrous wave. The wave crashed forth into the ship which creaked under the impact's force but held steady as it climbed the great wall of water. Before reaching the top of the aquatic hill, a bolt of lightning streaked by, striking the mast which burst into flaming splinters as the winds claimed the unraveling sails. The lone pirate swore as his vessel creaked more and gave in to the mighty tides. Without the sail catching the wind, the grand ship drifted down the wave it challenged and swayed to the side. As the ship began to capsize, the lone pirate held firm to the wheel and grinned. "This great stormy sea, what a fine challenge it be." He said as he gave a salute to the sky before looking to the sea. "And as my vessel begins to tip, this pirate shall stand by his ship." He said as the wave began to crash down upon him._

 **The Gaian Seas:**

 **Makings of a Crew**

~ Ch.1: The Pirate of Durem

A messy haired young man in a black shirt and pants rose up with a yawn from his bed and stretched. "Heh… crazy dream." He said before looking in the corner of his home where a sword with a face and glowing orange runes stood against a corner. "Of course crazy is the norm in the pirate life, right Brim?" He asked the sword that blinked and began floating over. "Indeed, that usually is the case. For the pirates life is mostly at sea where many a tale is told." Said the sword. The man nodded. "While some be tall tales, a lot hold truth." The man added then together they said. "But the truest adventures lie in the yet discovered and the treasures lost! The open ocean and the mighty seas! Aye matey the pirate life's the life for me!" They both finished and let out grand laughs. The man let out another yawn and rubbed his blue eyes before leaving his bed. "Alright now, time to get going." He said as he reached to a stand that held a red vest and a hat with a wing and eyepatch on it. Brim then floated into his hand and the man's eyes shifted from blue to orange, matching the runes of the sword. After also putting on his steel armored boots, the man was about to leave his house but stopped, then turned to a peculiar shadow by the far wall. He went over to the shadow and knocked on it. "Yo Neko! Time to wake up." He said and backed up as a figure rose from the shadow. The figure was an anthropomorphic black and white feline with a tophat and tux. "Ah maaan. Can't I sleep a bit longer?" The cat said with a yawn. At the shake of the man's head, the feline reluctantly left the shadow and looked at the clock before materialized his lucky black cane and pointing it at the man. "You can be quite cruel sometimes Yoshi, you know that right?" He said in a bit of a serious tone before chuckling. The man known as Yoshi chuckled as well. "Yeah yeah yeah, it's early. But I can't wait to sail again and besides, I want to get to the Gambino harbor to see the sunrise." He said with a grin. "Now let's go!" The red and black clad pirate said as he ran to the door out of his apartment in Durem with his feline friend close behind.

The duo had arrived at the Gambino Harbor just as the first rays of sunlight shined on the horizon. "Heh, this area truly does have an amazing sunrise, doesn't it?" Yoshi said with a grin. Neko nodded once with a faint smile. "Yeah it does, I just wish the sun could rise later so I can be awake enough to truly enjoy it." He said with a laugh earning a playful shove from Yoshi. "Neko you slacker, if you had it your way the sun wouldn't rise till noon!" They both laughed and made their way down the docks. Upon approaching one ship, Yoshi broke into a sprint until he was right in front of it. "Ah, here you are you grand beauty." He said with his arms wide. It was a giant sized wooden ship painted deep red with black stripes and swirls. The ship had a vast red sail with two distinct crossed black stripes and a design of a grunny skull over crossed swords. There were also various areas of the ship with golden metal plating that looked like they opened. Neko had finally caught up to the excited pirate and looked up at the ship as well. "You truly take great pride in the Grand Crimson, don't ya?" He said with a smirk. Yoshi put his hands to his sides and let out a hearty laugh. "Of course I do, after all I designed and built most of it." He said before getting a look of nostalgia on his face. "I ever tell you the story of this ship? It's also the story of how I met Brim." The pirate said softly as the sword on his back blinked at hearing his name. Neko shook his head. "Nope, not all of it at least. You did mention how you found it extremely rundown and half sunk in a lost cave far past Gold Beach though." Said the feline. Yoshi smiled as a twinkle shone in his uncovered eye. "Ah yes, the Lost Grotto of Stone-Heart as Brim called it." The sword on his back hummed in remembrance. "Yes, the grandest grotto this side of Gaia. The meeting place and hideout of my crew back when I was human. The legendary Stone-Heart Pirates, ruthless and cold to the core." Spoke the blade, voice filled with nostalgia. "Hehe, yep you were quite the tyrant when I first found you in that wreck, but over time I helped show you the greatness of fighting for good." Yoshi said, bringing Brim out of memory lane. "Indeed, and you even fixed up and brought new life into my old ship." Brim said as he floated off of Yoshi's back and looked toward the ship as well. Neko couldn't help but smile at the two of them and look at the ship as well, the morning light shining behind it giving it a fiery glow of warmth.

After the three broke from staring at the grand red ship they climbed aboard and got ready to sail. It was a tough job as usual getting the ship ready with just the two with hands, but they always manage it and this is one of the reasons why they sail to new areas. To find new recruits for the crew. After the ship was ready to set sail and away from the docks, Yoshi went into his quarters and grabbed his signature pirate coat and gilded claw gauntlet. Now in his full look, the pirate of Durem left his quarters and approached the helm. "So, where to this time captain?" Neko asked. Yoshi smirked as he took hold of the helm and looked out at the seas before saying, "Next stop… adventure."


	2. The Runaway Princess

In a distant land outside of Gaia's reality, another world identical to it yet more medieval, is caught in a heated battle of kingdoms. A battle that has raged for decades. Humans, elves, gnomes, and nightfrights, all locked in a war for a lost treasure that may no longer exist. In a castle resting in eternal magical dusk, a lone nightfright in a long red dress stares into the distant battle as tears fall from her mismatched red and green eyes. She held tight to a ruby scepter as she turned away from the window. She has seen more than enough war, she knows it won't end any time soon, all she wants now is to be away from it. She had gone over to her wardrobe and took out a set of traveling clothes. She was finally leaving this war behind, today.

~ Ch.2: The Runaway Princess

It was a clear day with not a cloud in the sunny sky. The warmth of the sun was shining down on a familiar red and black ship at sea. Up in the crow's nest sat Neko, humming to himself looking through a telescope. He stopped humming and grinned when he spotted something. Cupping his paw over his mouth the feline gave a shout to his captain. "Landmass off starboard!" The cat turned his telescope to the captain and saw his grinning nod as he turned the wheel, steering the ship to the new destination.

Upon docking the Grand Crimson at the small harbor, Yoshi stood at the bow of the ship and took in the sight around him, it was a moderate sized harbor that seemed mostly filled with small ships for fishing and various markets for all the fish. It truly was the definition of a fish market. Off in the distance a town of sorts could be seen and beyond it, a forest. "Welp, what are we waiting for let's g-…" Yoshi began saying until he saw Neko was no longer on the ship. Looking at the crowd of the harbor he wasn't too hard to spot… carrying a small crate of fish. Yoshi couldn't help but chuckle, when it came to fish, the feline was like a child at Halloween anticipating that next batch of candy. "Better get him before he gets himself in trouble." Brim stated with a chuckle. With that thought, Yoshi dived down into the crowded harbor to find his feline friend.

After meeting up with Neko, and convincing him to leave the fish crate on the ship, Yoshi led the way into the town. Approaching the town, it was smaller than it looked, and it was quiet as well. Neko slunk down into his shadow and hid in Yoshi's. The pirate gave a nod to his shadow before making his way to what looked to be a tavern of sorts. It was rather quiet in there as well with only a few people silently chatting, until the squeak of the door caught their attention. It was a cliche moment where all eyes were on the newcomer as he made his way to the front of the bar. Behind the bar was a musclebound giant of a man wiping a glass clean. "So… what's the deal around this place? The harbor is busy as all hell yet the closest town is quieter then a library. Something's fishy and it isn't the harbor." Yoshi interrogated and once again all eyes were on him with mutters flying around. With a glare from the bartender the mutters silenced and all eyes averted. Yoshi smirked. "You hold quite the authority around here don't ya?" The bartender chuckled and set the glass he was cleaning down. "Not many around here have the backbone to talk about the stuff that goes on, especially in the forest." The bartender said in a gruff voice. At the mention of the forest many of the people stiffened, some got up and hurried out the door. Yoshi's interest was piqued. "And what praytell goes on in the forest."

The red clad pirate cut and walked through the dense brush of the forest by the town, the bartender's tales fresh in mind. _"There was once a logging camp beyond those trees, but then there was talk of sounds and sightings deep in the forest. Some folks went to check it out and came back half crazy. Those that weren't reduced to rambling lunatics spoke of ghosts and some haunted temple." "A temple?" "What's with the grin? Ya some kind of treasure hunter?" "Of sorts. Now, what became of the logging camp? This town looks like it could sure use the business from it."_ After cutting through a thick batch of hanging vines, Yoshi found the remains of the logging camp. All the machines and equipment covered in growing vines. _"The camp was abandoned. Business fell apart as word spread and no one else would enter the forest, heh, some even starting to call the forest cursed." "Has anyone gone missing?" "Not a single soul."_ Yoshi walked into the center of the camp, sheathed Brim on his back and took in his surroundings. "Alright ya lazy cat we're here, you can come out now." He told his shadow, from which Neko emerged. "So… do you think that muscle heads story is true?" The feline said as he materialized his lucky black cane and twirled it. Yoshi shrugged. "Who knows? But this place is definitely abandoned." He said. Brim gave a sudden shake catching his attention. "Huh? Brim, what's wrong?" Yoshi said looking behind him. "I sense strong power to the northeast." Brim informed. Yoshi gave a nod and started running in that direction, Neko diving into his shadow.

Within the other reality, the runaway princess was running through a dense forest. Shout from the royal guards were heard in the distance. "Princess! Come back!" She couldn't go back, not when freedom could be so close, if the legends were true. She saw a clearing up ahead. That had to be it, the Temple of Thousand Echoes had to be there.

Swiftly cutting through the vines and leaves, Yoshi followed Brims direction to whatever he was sensing. "Just up ahead, this power, it's immense!" Brim stated. Yoshi agreed, he could feel it as well, like a loud hum in the air, vibrating his vary being. With a final slashed vine he arrived at a clearing, with a small temple in the center. An upside down pyramid held by dozens of arched pillars, it showed great age but not a spot of vegetation on it. "This is incredible…" Yoshi said as he gazed upon the structure, and something caught his eye. At the point of the upside down pyramid was a crystal looking structure that made him go wide eyed. "It can't be." He ran up to the structure but stopped dead as a wall of sound assaulted his ears dropping him to the ground. Now at high alert, Brim swiftly floated backwards, dragging Yoshi with him out of the wall of sound. Neko emerged from Yoshi's shadow holding his ears. "What the actual hell just happened!" He shouted. Yoshi, not taking his eyes off the crystal structure, got back to his feet. It couldn't be what he thought it was, they popped up recently in Gaia's history yet that one seemed to have had this centuries old structure built around it. "What I want to know is how the hell a null crystal got here."


	3. Temple of Thousand Echoes

"What I want to know…" Yoshi said as he got to his feet, keeping the crystal structure in his sight. "Is how the hell a null crystal got here?" Neko shook his head. "Whoa whoa whoa, a null crystal!?" He looked at the center of the structure and saw the crystal. "How… what?" The duo was in disbelief, all the known null crystals disappeared when the animated calmed. A legend was started saying unknown heroes braved the shallow seas and stopped the source of them. But here… here stood possibly the last null crystal. But why? Yoshi observed the rest of the structure. There were various cracked spots with faint light shining from within them. Following the cracks Yoshi saw the mysterious light was directed toward the crystal, looking closer he could see the light being focused upon the null. He held his hand to the wall of sound and felt it vibrate the air. "Anyone who entered this area, I can see why they would lose their minds." He started as he withdrew his hand. "Just the feeling of the sound is harsh, can't imagine what prolonged hearing of it could do." Brim jolted as he felt something. "Everyone down!" He shouted. Everyone dropped just before the ground gave a shake and various screeches were heard.

~ Ch.3: Temple of Thousand Echoes

Amidst the chaos in the air and ground, the temples lights shone brighter. The light flowed through the temple into the null crystal. The null crystal turned from purple to a deep blue. Overhead the energy gathered in the air had sparked a storm, clouds gathered and lightning flashed within them with booming thunder. The wall of sound exploded outward and the small group covered their ears. Looking up, Yoshi saw bolts of lightning hanging in the air and condensing. "That can't be good." He said, barely able to hear himself. The titanic bolt of lightning suddenly shot downward upon the top of the structure. The energy swiftly traveled through the temple into the null crystal and gave an outburst of energy creating a galing wind that blew Yoshi and Neko back and almost knocking them out. Just as suddenly as the chaos started, it began to subside. Looking up at the temple, Yoshi saw a cloaked figure on the ground just in front of the crystal. "Wha- how?" He tried to get to his feet but felt weight holding him down. Looking behind him he saw a fallen tree branch on his back. "Damnit, Neko! The temple! Hurry!" He shouted, a little ways away, Neko was shaking his head trying to clear the ringing from his ears. Upon hearing his friend he looked up and saw the figure and let out a groan. "This is gonna suck." He said as he dived into his own shadow and swiftly glided along the ground toward the temple. It was absolute torture to his senses but Neko managed to reach the figure and leapt out of his shadow. He picked up the figure and dived back into his shadow with them and swiftly glided to escape the resonating hell of sound.

After escaping the temple, the small group went back to the logging camp. They set the mysterious cloaked figure on a soft patch of grass. Yoshi lifted the hood of the cloak and gasped, so did Neko. "What the- first a null crystal, now a nightfright? Just what the heck is happening here?" Neko exclaimed. Yoshi shushed the frantic feline. "Do you want to wake up the nightfright?" He whisper shouted. The nightfright let out a groan as it… she… lifted her hand to her head. "Too late for that." Neko said with a slight whimper. He never seen a nightfright in person before this but he heard terrible tales of their strength and wrath. As the nightfright rose up, Neko dove into Yoshi's shadow. "Scaredy cat." Yoshi said as he took a defensive stance. The nighfright slowly opened her mismatched green and red eyes and looked around. "Where, where am I?" The nightfright spoke, catching Yoshi off guard. He never heard a nightfright speak before. He didn't even know they could! He stiffened as the nightfright then looked at him. "Who are you?" She asked and Yoshi almost fell over in shock. "Umm, my name's Yoshi… do umm, do you have a name?" He asked. The nightfright stood up and straitened her cloak, dusting it off. "The name's Nina Frightmare. You seem different from the other humans I know of." She said as she tilted her head and examining Yoshi. "Oh umm, really? How so?" Yoshi asked feeling a bit uncomfortable by the nightfright's gaze. Nina giggled and looked around. "Doesn't matter, but where are we? Is this still the Echoing Woods?" She asked, perplexing Yoshi greatly. "Echoing woods?" He asked. Nina looked back at him. "The Echoing Woods, legendary resting place of the Temple of Thousand Echoes. I'm sure you've heard the legends, everyone in the kingdoms has." Nina explained with a frown before a realization caused her to grin. "Kingdoms? There aren't any kingdoms around here. What… wait… does the name Gaia mean anything to you?" Yoshi asked as a thought occurred. "Nope, and I doubt it should!" The nightfright shouted in glee. "It worked! The legends were true and it worked!" She said with laughter as she spun around. Neko rose up from Yoshi's shadow and scratched his head. "Someone hand me a map, I am totally lost here."

"So… you're from another world I'm guessing." Yoshi said. Nina nodded and smiled. "Yeah, but that doesn't matter." Neko laughed. "Cross dimensional travel doesn't matter? Science still struggles with time travel! Granted there have been recorded instances of it happening in history." He said earning a smack in the arm from Yoshi. "Ow! what was that for?" He whined. Yoshi ignored him. "So, that temple, what exactly does your legends say about it?" He asked. Neko silently sulked. "There are various legends around the Temple of Thousand Echoes." Nina started. Brim unsheathed himself from Yoshi's back and floated up. "Thousand echoes, or thousand worlds?" He wondered. "Perhaps the temple is a gateway between the multiverse, this could explain the sound wall, it's all the worlds sounds seeping through at once." Brim theorized. Nina pointed at the floating blade. "Wha- wha- what!? How is that sword floating and talking!?" She asked as she backed away. Yoshi looked over at Brim and sighed. "It's a long story." He said. Neko, half sunk in his own shadow with his chin resting in one paw, rolled his eyes. It wasn't really that long of a story, Yoshi just didn't like talking about Brim's origins as it tended to scare off people. After all, with past events, people have gotten a negative outlook on animated. Even before becoming animated, Brim was a cursed sword with the soul of the most ruthless pirate in Gaian history bound to it. Yoshi didn't like bringing up any of it, especially after acquiring the various titles in the events during the fight against the animated. Looking at Yoshi, Neko could tell, he still held great sadness from those days, Nina could see it too, even though she didn't know what caused the sadness. Yoshi shook his head. "Come on, we should get to town and grab something to eat." He said, and as if on cue, Neko's stomach growled loudly. "Hey, why stop in town? We got all that fish on the ship." The cat said with a wide grin. "Because I doubt Nina would like to see your eating habits when it comes to fish." Yoshi jabbed with a smirk as Neko spazzed a bit. "My eating habits are not that bad!" "Yes they are." "No they are not!" The duo went back and forth like that for a bit and Nina couldn't help but giggle at them.

Eventually, it was decided that they would journey back to the town to eat. They went back to the bar and spoke with the bartender who gave them their meals on the house. "Anyone brave enough to take on a ghost story head on is alright in my book." He said with a laugh. While they sat and talked, Neko couldn't help but feel that the bartender was trying to hit on Nina, not that it bothered him any. During their meal, Yoshi asked Nina if she would like to join their little crew. "Adventures and discoveries at sea? Count me in!" Upon exiting the bar, the bartender told them they could return at any time. The trio made their way to the harbor and boarded the crimson vessel. Not long after, they were setting sail to new adventure… unaware of the stirrings back at the temple. "Scatter men! We must find the princess, at any cost!" "Yes sir!"


	4. Corp Tech and A Tiny Zurg

In a remote area of Aekea, deep underground and drilling its way south, was a peculiar armored machine with a peculiar pilot. A zurg in goggles and a white jacket and his machine drilling through the ground so fast it might've well been flying. The zurg pressed some buttons on the console in his little cockpit. "Come on Diesel, we got a small window to pull off the drop off before the designated guard enters his post!" The zurg urgently said. The machine gave a jerk knocking the zurg's head against the window. "I am drilling as fast as I can Remmy. This is bedrock I am drilling through and drilling any higher up would risk being picked up on their radars." The machine known as Diesel spoke. The zurg known as Remmy facepalmed and dragged his hand down his face. "I know. I just wanna get this 'borrowed' tech back before it's missed too much." Remmy said pointing out the back of the cockpit where a crate was attached. The two bickered back and forth as above ground an egg shaped base came into view.

~ Ch.4: Corp Tech and a Tiny Zurg

Within the egg shaped base, known to many as E-corp, a soft rumbling was heard in a closed off room as a drill broke through the ground and a person sized drilling machine with a crate on its back emerged. After emerging, the machine twisted and turned, taking on a more humanoid form with the crate held on its shoulder. Within the mech's head, a zurg no more than a foot tall was reading a monitor. "Dangit, this isn't the lab, this looks like it's the armory!" Remmy said as he took in the site of the weapons around him. "Let's just leave the crate here before we're caught." He groaned before a warning light flashed on the console. "Too late. Hostile inbound." Diesel said setting down the crate just as the door to the armory opened revealing a grunt clad in E-corp trooper gear. It only took a second for the grunt to notice the intruders and raise his weapon. "Who are you, this is a restricted area! How did you get in he-!?" The grunt cut himself off noticing the hole in the ground. "Now now, we don't want any trouble." Remmy said. "Indeed, trouble is not our objective." Diesel said raising his arms in surrender, unfortunately his arms held weapons that the grunt took as a move for a threat. The grunt fired at the intruders who barely managed to dodge. "Hey be careful with that! We're in the damn armory!" Remmy shouted, after which he realized he accidently pointed Diesel's arm baring a shotgun at the grunt. The grunt shot at them again. Diesel quickly sidestepped the shot and Remmy saw it hit an explosive. "Oh shi- DUCK AND COVER!" The small zurg yelled as he hit the controls making Diesel tackle the grunt to the ground, covering him just as the explosive set off a chain reaction that shook the whole base.

As the dust cleared, Remmy opened his eyes and looked around. The blast had blown a giant hole in the base to the outside, luckily most of the damage seems to have been limited to the armory thanks to the thick walls. Remmy groaned before turning to the console and pressing some buttons. "Diesel, are you alright?" The lights on the console flashed and an electronic whirring sound was heard. "Sys-sys-systems online. External armor hold-holding at 5% condition. Internal struc-structure at 35%. Heavy repair nee-nee-nee-needed." The mech informed. Remmy swore loudly as he gently worked the banged up mech to his feet and looked down at the grunt, the zurg let out a sigh of relief seeing the grunt was still alive. "There may be some nasty bruises from that tackle but you should live." Remmy stated softly before turning back to the console. "Diesel, flight check, go or no go for launch?" Remmy asked the mech who whirred and sparked. "Flight capacity-ty-ty green, we are go for lau-lau-launch." Diesel spoke in an increasing static voice as wings spread out from his back. "Then let's punch it and get you fixed up old buddy." Diesel took to the air and flew out the hole blown in the wall. After a bit of distance a warning light flashed and Diesel dropped quickly before catching himself and barely missing a lone tree on the mountain side. "Ok Diesel, let's just take a nice slow flight, ok?"

After a shaky flight, the flying mech approached the outskirts of north Aekea. Upon approaching a base of welded sheet metal, one of the wing rockets sputtered out smoke. "Nonononono, emergency landing!" Remmy shouted as he hit a few buttons. Diesel's legs came together and sunk inward before being replaced by a large wheel just as the damaged rocket sparked and gave out. Diesel revved up the wheel and came to a frantic skid of a landing with Remmy franticly pressing buttons and pulling levers trying to keep control… and find the breaks, because they were fast approaching the base. "Shi- screw the breaks!" Remmy said as he grabbed the steering and did a hard turn putting Diesel in a sideways skid. Diesel withdrew his shotgun into his arm and grabbed at the ground slowly dragging him to a stop just centimeters from the base. Remmy let out a sigh of relief as he slumped in his seat. "Come on Diesel, let's get inside and fix you up." He said, a little short of breath.

Upon getting Diesel into his repair dock, Remmy left the mech and grabbed his tools. He lowered his goggles and lit a welding torch with a grin. "Gear up Diesel, it's time for your upgrades!" He said turning to a bunch of parts he reverse engineered from borrowed 'top secret' corp tech.

Sparks flying, gears cranking, old parts replaced with new. Diesel's repairs were almost finished. Remmy shut off his welding torch and lifted his goggles. "How ya feeling now?" The zurg asked. Diesel lifted a hand and clenched it into a fist before unclenching and turning it. "Systems green at 98%." The mech informed. Remmy gave a puff of pride. "Leave it to a genius to manage such spectacular repairs." He said with a laugh. "'Mad' genius." Diesel corrected, making Remmy fall in exasperation before jumping back to his feet. "How many times must I say I'm not mad?!" Remmy shouted, earning a chuckle from Diesel. "Not only did you steal top secret tech from several corps, you returned to each corp with the tech to give it back." Diesel argued, Remmy grumbled in defeat. Point, Diesel. "Ahh, shut up ya big lugnut so I can finish with the upgrades." Remmy said as he pulled down his goggles and went back to work.

A few hours later, Diesel was flying across the oceans northeast of the shallow seas. It was a standard system check to make sure his upgrades functioned well in high speed flight. "Alright Diesel, standard flight with upgrades is good. Now let's go full flight mode." Remmy said with a grin. "Affirmative." Diesel said. The mech stopped in midair and began to transform. His legs came together and melded with each other and his body. His arms melded along his sides and his body twisted at the neck and turned horizontal. The cockpit then locked in place along the former chestplate. Diesel now looked like a miniature jet. "Flight mode engaged." Diesel said. Remmy smirked. "Let's see just where your flight limit lies. Full speed ahead!" He said loudly as he pointed forward. The jets on Diesel's wings revved up and ignited, sending the mech turned jet off with a sonic boom. "Yeeehaaa!" Remmy shouted with a massive grin as they sped through the air just over the waters of the open ocean.

Drifting in the middle of the ocean, the Grand Crimson's crew was relaxing. Yoshi had taken out a dummy to train his fighting on, Nina was sitting on deck reading a book, and Neko was up in the crow's nest taking a nap. His nap was interrupted when he heard a faint sound that made his ears twitch. He opened his eyes and got up before grabbing the telescope and looking around for the noise, it was getting louder fast. He suddenly saw what looked like a torpedo coming in fast. Wide eyed he cupped his paw over his mouth and shouted as loud as he could. "PROJECTILE INCOMING! EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Meanwhile, in the distance, the drifting ship had just come into sight and Diesel was going too fast to turn. With a loud curse Remmy grabbed the steering and pulled up as hard as he could to try going over the obstacle. No one on board the Grand Crimson had time to react to Neko's warning before Diesel ripped through the side railing just barely missing the hull of the ship. The speeding mech turned jet screeched by tearing through the rigging and sail. Everyone grabbed what they could to steady themselves as the ship shook from the impact. Yoshi looked over at the projectile and saw it was turning in the distance like it was coming back.

Diesel had various ropes and fabric wrapping around him and the cockpit was covered by it. "What the hell happened? I can't see a thing!" Remmy said as he franticly tried to see through the debris covering his view. "Scanners offline from impact. Situation assessment, we're flying blind." Diesel informed. "Way to state the obvious you bolt brain!" Remmy shouted with a hint of panic in his voice. Back on the ship, everyone gathered on deck and watched as the projectile object swayed back and forth but kept speeding back in their direction. "I could fly up there and see what I could do about that thing." Nina suggested and Yoshi shook his head. "That things moving too fast for you to do it alone. Fly over it and Neko, stick to her shadow till you're on top of it then do whatever you can." He ordered. The two nodded and went to work.

Remmy was franticly trying to get the scanners online while hoping they don't crash. He finally got the scanners flickering back online just as a thud slightly shook Diesel. "What the heck, this things a jet?!" A voice said from outside. Remmy banged on the cockpits window. "Yo, who do you think you are climbing aboard my mech like this?!" He demanded. The debris began moving away from the cockpit. "I'm part of the crew from that ship you attacked!" Said the now visible feline. Remmy sweatdropped and gave a nervous chuckle. "It was not on purpose, was just going a little too fast for the scanners to pick anything up." Neko looked behind himself. "Well if it was really an accident then turn around, you're coming in for a return strike. Remmy bolted up. "I'm what!" He panicked as he turned upward, narrowly missing the crow's nest which Neko jumped off onto.

Remmy had Diesel transform back to normal and slowly flew back to the Grand Crimson, landing on the deck. The crew gathered around and Remmy was admittedly a bit intimidated by the one with the sword and gulped. The red clad pirate stepped forward. "My friend says that your attack was an accident, is this true?" He asked. "Y-yeah it was, I recently gave my buddy here some upgrades and was testing out his flight capacity. It seems his speed out performs the scanners as by the time your ship was in range it was too late to avoid collision, although I did try." Remmy explained. The air was filled with silence as the pirate glared at the zurg who was increasingly nervous. Suddenly the man grinned. "Well, at least no one was hurt which is always a plus." He said and Remmy fell out of his seat in shock at the shift in attitude. "Wha- you're letting me off the hook just like that?" The small zurg asked. All eyes turned to the pirate as he let out a mighty laugh and said. "No way is it gonna be that simple! Well it is simple though, we are just gonna have you pay for the repairs." Remmy froze, he had not even a piece of gold to his name. Everything he had was either salvaged from junk, stolen, or built by hand. Looking at the zurgs face, Yoshi could tell what was going through his head. He then looked at the mech and thought of another idea. "Say, this mech, did you build him yourself?" Yoshi said with a grin breaking Remmy's train of thought. "Umm, yes, I mean- Diesel is not bargainable!" He shouted and Yoshi raised his hands up. "Not what I was going with so calm down." Remmy gave a huff but calmed a bit. "What I was thinking, is how about joining my crew to work off your debt. I'm good with tech myself but we could always use a good engineer as part of the crew." Yoshi stated with a grin. Remmy thought about it a bit and found it to be a decent idea and nodded. "Alright, I'll join. But imma need to return to the Aekea outskirts to pick up some things from my base, then Barton to meet a contact of mine for something." He said. Yoshi grinned and headed to the helm. "Alright! Welcome to the crew zurg and his mech!" He stopped and turned around realizing something that made him sheepishly scratch the back of his head and chuckle. "We totally forgot the introductions didn't we."


	5. Mages and The Great Prophacy

South of Aekea, an explosion rings through the air from an egg shaped base. A lone figure stands a ways away in the shade of a tree on a mountain and looks to it. He lets out a huff. "Seems like someone beat me to it." The figure said before turning away. Suddenly his ears twitched as he heard something. Turning back toward the base he barely had time to catch a glimpse of some sort of mech as it just missed him and the tree. The figure covered his face as dust and wind assaulted him, making his long ears flop behind him. Stepping out of the trees shadow, the figure was revealed to be a white bunny in an equally white outfit. He turned his blue eyes in the direction the mech flew. "Well, I'm guessing that was the cause of the explosion. I hope no one was hurt though." He said looking back at the base as distant alarms had started ringing. "Better get out of here. Don't want to risk running into the big bunny after all these years." He stated before taking off in a swift sprint, parkouring his way onto a path at the base of the mountain.

~ Ch.5: Mages and the Great Prophecy

After a long trek, the bunny had arrived in the south Barton Fields. Swiftly passing by the gnome village, he ran into the southern forest and kept going until he entered a small hidden village of treehouses and huts. It was a relaxing place mostly. He slowed his running down to a walk and strolled through the village. Most of the residents were wearing white cloaks or capes and held staffs, they were light mages, the locals of the village. While it was mostly them that inhabited the village, they welcomed anyone who had magic… well, almost anyone. The white bunny kept walking lost in thought until he heard someone call him. "Ethan!" He turned to the voice just as a small figure tackled him. "Oof! Dan, what's wrong?" He asked the youth who seemed to be panicking. "Wendy! She went to the western cliffs! I tried to stop her but she kept going!" Dan explained. The bunny went wide eyed. "The western cliffs! But that's dark mage territory!" Ethan said in panic as he took off sprinting again. He made a stop in one hut and grabbed a crooked cane then made his way out of the small village.

A small distance out of the forest, a young mouse girl was chanting spells. She had followed a bird there and found it to be injured, so she decided to practice her healing magic. There was honestly no need for the practice as she was already pretty adept in the art of healing spells, but she always insisted on practicing and saying she could always get better. After healing the bird she watched it flap its wings and take flight. She was about to turn and head back into the forest when a bolt of magic energy streaked by and obliterated a small boulder. With a shriek and a jump the little mage turned to see two dark cloaked figures. "Benny you dolt! We could've followed her to the mage village!" One said as he smacked the other hard on the head. "I'm sorry Bobby, you know I'm not good with stealth." The one known as Benny whimpered. The little mage fearfully backed away from the two but found another boulder blocking her path. Their attention turned back to her and they put their hands up. "Relax girly, we aren't gonna hurt ya. We just would like you to take us to your village." Bobby said softly but with a wicked toothy grin. "Yeah, then we'll, 'have a word' with the elder." Benny said as he twisted the staff he was holding. "Not gonna happen boys." Said a voice from the forest as a white blur bolted out and stopped in front of the little mage. "Uncle Ethan!" The young mage cheered, then frowned knowing she was in deep trouble from the stern look Ethan had. "Wendy, you know this area is forbidden territory, now go back to the forest." He said in a serious tone. "Yes uncle." Wendy said with a nod as she turned and ran into the treeline. "Now then… to deal with you two." Ethan said as he glared at the dark mages and gave the cane in his hand a twirl. "You want trouble, long ears." Bobby asked and Benny poked him. "Umm, Bobby, don't you think this guy could be…" Bobby smacked Benny's head again. "Don't start with that tall tale. That 'Bloodmoon Bunny' story is only a myth!" The dark mage stated. Ethan smirked and reached for the moonstone amulet he wore around his neck. "Fun fact boys…" he took hold of the amulet and the two turned to him. "I have found that most tall tales and myths…" He unclasped the amulet and dropped it. "Hold some truth." He finished as his eyes turn a piercing red.

Back in the village, perched by one of the many treehouses, Wendy sulked. She had really gotten in trouble this time. She didn't like when Uncle Ethan got mad. She looked around at the people in the village and remembered the time she truly saw him angry, when he first appeared in her life. She barely remembered it and it pained her to remember, because that was the day the dark mages found the old settlement and burned it. They destroyed so much, and killed so many… Wendy shook her head trying not to remember that moment. But then he came in, like a guardian sent to help… almost. He devastated the dark mages. He was an angered beast of raw power. Yet after the battle, after saving the village, he seemed to be calm and gentle. He had helped all he could with the injured and moving the village to the new location. It wasn't till she overheard a talk between Uncle Ethan and the elder that she learned a dark truth about him. He holds great power, too great, when unleashed, it eats away at his sanity and he becomes who he calls, 'Bloodmoon'. Only with a rare type of moonstone can he suppress that power. But even with the moonstone the presence of dark mages makes him angered enough for some of that power to seep through, she saw it in his eyes when he came to help. He wasn't just mad at her for going to the western cliffs, he was angered by the dark mages. He could never forgive them for that day. The day they destroyed the village, the day the killed so many, the day they left her an orphan.

Looking up from her perch, Wendy saw her Uncle Ethan re-enter the village, he was adjusting the moonstone on his necklace. He seemed to be in a hurry and made his way to the elders hut. Curious, she decided to follow. Approaching the hut, she heard her Uncle arguing with the elder. She pressed her ear against the wall to try hearing better. "Elder, please I beg you we must relocate. They said their planning a full sweep of the forest." She heard her uncle say. He sounded worried. "Relocating the whole village is an enormous task my friend. And even if they sweep the forest like you say, we could have our defender group strengthen the illusion barrier to hide us." The elder said calmly. "But sir! They are acting toward the great prophecy!" A silence followed Ethan's statement and Wendy moved to peek into a nearby window. The Elder looked worried and slowly turned toward her uncle. "Which prophecy do you speak of?" He spoke gravely serious. Ethan took a deep breath. "Before defeating the encountered dark mages, they let slip that their target… is the book of light." An uneasy silence fell upon the room and Wendy was greatly worried from it. This sounded really really bad. The elder moved to a shelf of ordinary looking magic books before waving his hand over it. The shelf emptied and more advanced arcane tomes appeared. The elder grabbed hold of a tome so white it seemed to glow. "The book of light… a powerful tome with the greatest of light magic infused within it. On its own, it could bring no harm. But the dark mages… they must have the book of darkness. If you speak the truth and are right about the prophecy, they must be out of their minds and trying to recreate the lost tome of chaos." The elder spoke as he gazed upon the books glow. The elder turned to Ethan. "Do you know the legend… the story of the lost tome?" Ethan nodded. "Yes, it was once the most powerful tome in all of Gaia, so powerful it corrupted any who held it. But a battle with one powerful mage changed that. The mage used every last ounce of energy within him to calm the chaos within the tome and tore the power within it into two new tomes." Ethan said somberly and the elder nodded. "The book of light… and the book of darkness." The elder placed the glowing book back and returned the shelf to normal. "But a prophecy arose stating that one day the darkest of mages will reignite the clash between light and dark, bringing chaos upon the land once more."

Far off from the forest, at the bottom of the western cliffs stood another forest. This forest, unlike the other which was lush with life and green, was dead and grey. The trees held no leaves but the branches were plentiful and blocked out most of the suns light. This, was the Grimshade Woods, at least, that's what the locals called it. In the heart of the dead woods, dark plots rised. "Tonight!" Spoke a cloaked dark mage to a large group of his followers. "Tonight we find the village of the light mages! Tonight we finish what we started five years ago and burn them to the ground! We shall find their precious 'book of light' and fulfill the great prophecy!" The group of dark mage followers cheered. "Now we march, to darkness!" He concluded his short speech. "Yes master Grimshade!" The group cheered as they began their march behind their leader, heading up to the forest.

Meanwhile, up in Barton Town, a familiar group was sitting by the fountain in the middle of town. "So, this contact of yours, anything we should know about him Remmy?" Asked Neko who was twirling his lucky black cane in boredom. Remmy shrugged with a smirk. "I only know what I know about him, some things I can't say but he's come through for me many times with what I need." The small zurg explained. He was about to say more but noticed something on Diesel's scanners. "He is here." Spoke Diesel as the mech turned toward an approaching figure. The figure lifted his hand in the air as he approached. "Yo, zurgy boy. How goes it?" He said. Yoshi could swear he's seen this guy around before, he knows he's seen that green plaid hat before. "Hey man, got the items I asked for?" Remmy asked. The man nodded with a smirk before pulling five glowing purple crystals out of his jacket pocket. "I should ask more from you for these, it is insanely difficult to find these, more so to find non soulbound ones." The man said with a smirk, which Remmy matched. "Do ya really want to haggle the one with a mech?" Remmy said as he had Diesel present the objects of trade, some 'souvenirs' he acquired during their corp runs. "All right, all right, a good business man knows to pick his own battles." The man said as they commenced the trade. "Pleasure doing business with ya as usual zurgy boy." The man said as he turned to leave. Before he rounded the corner Remmy called him. "Yo Nic! Believe ya got something of my friends here!" The man stopped and turned back with a wide smirk. "Ya caught me again." He said as he pulled out a wallet that Neko recognized very well. "What the-!" Neko patted his pockets and found his wallet gone. The man then tossed the wallet back to the fuming feline. "That Nic, always the swindler." Remmy said with a laugh. His laugh was cut off as Diesel jerked to the side, which made Remmy smack his face against the window. "Diesel, what the heck man?!" Remmy shouted as he rubbed his face. "Major heat source detected nearby." Diesel said making Remmy go on high alert and bring up the screens with the scanner readings. "What is it, what's going on?" Nina asked. Yoshi tapped her shoulder and pointed to the south. "I believe that's what the scanners are picking up." He stated. Everyone looked at the glowing southern night skies before breaking into a run out the town's south gate.

"No… this can't be happening." Ethan said from the tallest point in the village as he saw an inferno consuming the forest, and closing in fast.


	6. The Fires of Chaos

Rising above the western cliffs outside of the forest, a group of dark mages held out their hands and staffs. They chanted spells that shot out fireballs all along the treeline. Some mages were silent and stoic while others let out howls of laughter. High in the air, other groups of dark mages hung suspended with magic, watching the inferno rage and consume the forest. "There will be no hiding from this. The grand prophecy will come to pass, and I will rule all of Gaia." Spoke Grimshade as he held out a dark black book that seemed to absorb the light around it, casting a dark aura around it. The dark mage then let out a sinister laugh.

~ Ch.6: The Fires of Chaos

As the glow in the night skies brightened, Ethan swiftly ran to the center of the village where a bell stood. It was mostly for decoration so there wasn't anything to hit it with, but hey, you use what you need right? As he ran to it he raised his fist and punched the bell with all his might. A loud ringing sounded through the village waking all who were sleeping. The village residents all left there huts and treehouses. "Ethan! What is the meaning of-" The elder shouted. He cut himself off when he saw the bright glow to the west of the village. "It's an inferno, and it's approaching fast." Ethan said with great worry. The elder nodded before rising his staff to the air. "Defender group, raise the shields!" He spoke, his voice amplified by magic. Dozens of mages scrambled to the edges of the village and began chanting, just as embers of the inferno began to reach the village.

Yoshi and his crew, quickly making their way through the south Barton Fields, darted toward the flaming forest. "Ok, so there's a raging fire. Now what the hell can we do about it?!" Remmy shouted. Yoshi glanced at the small zurg then looked ahead. "Within that forest is where an old friend of mine lives, I wasn't around to help him before and half his village was wiped out, I am not gonna let that happen again." He explained. "So is this a search and rescue then?" Nina asked. Yoshi just glared ahead as they approached the gnome village. "I hope it's just that, but if it's like the last time… be prepared for the worst." The group passed a bunch of gnomes who were tossing dirt at the flaming treeline. Nina could swear she's seen the big muscular one in her world before but shook it off as the group ran into the trees. The heat was intense within the forest. "Remmy, Diesel, zoom ahead and see what you can do. Nina, take Neko with you to the air." Yoshi ordered. Neko dove into Nina's shadow as she brought out her wings and took flight. "Alright then. Diesel, set the scanners for life signatures and let's kick it into high gear!" Remmy ordered as he and Diesel took off. Yoshi was left alone as he ran through the trees. He then closed his eyes and focused before drawing Brim forth and setting his course in a specific direction. "You better not die old man, still gotta repay you for what you've done for me." He said through grit teeth as he navigated through the flaming trees.

In the village, Ethan was worried. The defender group had gotten the shields up but… "This isn't good, we will be exposed!" Ethan said. The elder turned to him. "How so, please explain." Ethan pointed upward toward the flames. "With the whole defender group managing the shield, who is gonna hide the fact this area of the forest isn't burning!" He said. A look of dawning horror grew on the elders face. "This was their plan." Up above the trees, Grimshade noticed something peculiar and smirked. "Found you." He said as he and a few others dived down toward a spot of the forest that seemed to be repelling the fire. Not far away, another airborne being saw the untouched area. "Neko, do you think that's the place?" Nina asked. "Yeah, no doubt about it. Now let's go!" Neko said from within Nina's shadow. The nightfright dove swiftly toward the fire free area. Meanwhile, swiftly moving through the trees, Diesel's scanners picked up something. "Many life signatures detected." The mech informed. "Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry!" Remmy urged, but Diesel stopped and looked upward picking something else up. "Major power signature detected heading for other life signatures." Diesel informed. Remmy looked at the scans. "Oh, this is not gonna be good. Let's hurry Diesel! Full speed to intercept!" Remmy ordered. Diesel deployed his wings and fired up the rockets before taking off in a flash. Not far behind was Yoshi, slashing through the flaming trees with great speed.

In one of the treehouses, Wendy looked out the window in fear. This couldn't be happening, not again. She saw her uncle Ethan by the elder in the center of the village. He looked scared and worried. Taking a deep breath, Wendy grabbed her staff and left the treehouse, running straight for the center of the village. Upon approach she raised her hand in the air. "Uncle Ethan!" She shouted. Ethan turned with wide eyes. "Wendy, get back in the treehouse, it's getting dangerous out here!" Ethan urged. "But what if someone gets hurt, I could help." Ethan was about to say something but she continued. "Besides, beside you is the safest place I could think of because I know you would protect me." She said with a smile. Ethan tried to think of how to respond to that but a menacing chuckle was heard. Ethan's blood went cold as he slowly turned around. "Well, isn't that just sickenly sweet?" The village went silent as they all took in the sight of 5 dark mages floating above the village center. The one chuckling reached into his cloak and pulled out a pitch black book. "My name is Grimshade, and soon I will be the ruler of all Gaia." He said. The elder flinched back in fear when he saw the book. "Th- that's the book of darkness!" Grimshade smirked. "So you know of this mystic tome. How would you like a demonstration of its power?" Grimshade said as he pointed his palm at the elder, a dark aura flowing to it from the book while he chanted. Ethan's ears perked up as various crashes and cracks were heard, but the dark mage leader was too busy chanting to notice it, until… "Hit the brakes hit the brakes hit the brakes!" Through the trees a black blur blasted through, straight toward Grimshade. The dark mage leader had no time to react and was hit by the speeding metal blur. He was launched to the other end of the village while the metal being rolled along the ground to a stop. "Impact damage minimal, armor holding at 95%." The mech said as he got to his metal feet. Meanwhile the zurg pilot had swirly eyes from the rolling. "Good for you Diesel, good for you."

The surprise appearance of the mech had stunned the 4 other dark mages for a second. As soon as they shook it off they moved in to attack the intruder, but a blast from the air took one down getting their attention. They panicked at the sight of a nightfright above them. "Nice shot Nina." Neko said. "Thanks, but there's still more down there and it seems more are on the way." Nina said as she noticed more of the dark mages coming from the west. "Think you can handle them on your own?" The shadow feline asked. "Of course, just leave the newcomers to me while you get any that may get by." Nina said. Neko jumped out of Nina's shadow and flipped through the air landing on a treetop in the village. He then half turned and looked up at Nina, giving a thumbs up. "Good luck!" He said and Nina nodded before flying off. Meanwhile on the other end of the village, Grimshade emerged from a bush he crashed into and he did not look happy.

"Who are you, strange being?" The elder asked as Remmy shook off his dizziness. "The name's Remmy, and this here is my best bud Diesel." Remmy said as he pat the window of the cockpit. Diesel bowed causing Remmy to hit his head on said window. "My scans picked up the flames heat and our captain said a friend of his was in the area so we came to help however we can." The mech informed as he straightened up. Remmy rubbed his head unamused. "Oh? And what perhaps would your captain's name be?" The elder asked. "Oh, his name is Yoshi." Remmy said. The elder's eyes widened in recognition of the name. "I see, so he seeks to repay my assistance to him from the past? I have told him there was no need." Stated the elder. Wendy was listening to the two talk, curious of the newcomer and Ethan watched the sky as Nina fought off several dark mages. Remmy was about to say something but a blast of magic screeched by, striking Diesel in the back and sending him crashing several feet away through a nearby buildings wall. "Mr Remmy!" Wendy ran over to the fallen mech as Ethan and the elder looked to a seething mad Grimshade. "Nobody gets away with cheapshoting me." The dark mage leader said through grit teeth. Ethan reached for his moonstone amulet and prepared to fight.

Wendy had reached the facedown mech and saw the cockpit window smashed. A little ways away a groan was heard and she went and found the small zurg. He looked badly hurt so she lifted her staff and chanted a healing spell. After the quick heal spell, Remmy opened his eyes and slowly got up. "Ugh, Diesel, is he ok?" Remmy asked still in a bit of pain. The two made their way over to the still mech and with some effort got him flipped over. The damage didn't look good. There was a hole straight through Diesel's chestplate. "Damnit! … The blast went right through his power core. Without it, there's nothing I could do." Remmy said, voice cracking as he hung his head. Wendy was saddened hearing that and sniffled a bit. Something out the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was a red jewel of sorts. It was the jewel she saw glowing on the mech's chestplate. Wendy rubbed her nose and pointed at the red jewel. "Is that the power thing?" Remmy looked at where she was pointing and quickly went to pick up the object. He frowned a bit at the state of it. "Yes but… it's heavily damaged, near unusable." He sulked. He grit his teeth and shook his head. "No, I am not losing Diesel like this." The little zurg went back over to his mech and opened a compartment on the side that held tools, parts and schematics. Remmy grabbed a schematic and various parts including the strange purple gems he got from his contact earlier. "Is there anything I can help with?" Wendy asked. The zurg opened the schematic, quickly reading and looking through it. "For the best chance of this to work, I'll need you to use the strongest healing spell you got and focus it on the new power core." He said before getting to work, setting the schematic on the ground. "Alright then…" Remmy started as he set the purple gems and the power core with various other parts on another schematic with a runic circle. "Diesel old buddy…" The small zurg held his hands to the pile of parts and the circle started to glow. "Prepare to be animated."


	7. Battles and Animation

The village had quickly become a battlefield. In the air, Nina was doing all she could to fight off any new dark mages that flew toward the village. In the treetops, Neko was striking down ones that got through, yet some did get by him. The elder kept the ones getting through from causing too much damage. Ethan had it worst of them, Grimshade was proving to be a stronger opponent then any of the other dark mages he's fought, and Ethan was fighting with all but his limit. If he pushed any harder, he might lose control to the power of Bloodmoon, and he feared that Grimshade was fully aware of that. "Is this truly all you got, with the stories my clan tells, one would think the legend that stopped us before would have more bite." Grimshade stated as the two of them exchanged blows. Fighting with melee tactics, Ethan wasn't giving Grimshade any opening for spells. He held the white cane he fought with as a sword and channeled magic through it with each swinging strike. But Grimshade matched his tactics with ease, blocking with his own staff and channeling magic as well.

~ Ch.7: Battles and Animation

There didn't seem to be any end in sight of the approaching dark mages and Nina was reaching her limits. Another dark mage tried getting by and she turned and swung her wings, sending a wave of energy striking down the dark mage. Breathing heavily and going numb from exhaustion, she accidently let her guard down and her wing was hit by a stream of magic. With a yelp of pain she started to fall and crashed through the roof of one of the huts. Seeing Nina fall, Neko's worry made his guard drop and he was nearly hit as well. Refocusing, he swore and doubled his effort, hoping that Nina was ok. Keeping the dark mage that hit Nina in sight, he made sure to hit him twice as hard.

With a strange mix of alchemy and engineering, Remmy had managed to create a new core for Diesel. "Alright…" he said as he picked up the newly formed gem with a bright glow. "Time to get this installed and hope it works." He finished before looking from Diesel to Wendy. "You got that spell ready?" Remmy asked. The young mage was about to nod but a loud crash shook the hut surprising both of them. "What the hell just happened?!" Remmy shouted and nearly dropped the new core. "Sounded like it came from upstairs." Wendy said looking at the ceiling. She ran toward the stairs with Remmy reluctantly not far behind. When they got upstairs the first room they saw was totally trashed with a hole in the roof. Looking up through the roof, many dark mages could be seen. "We need to get Diesel back up and going." Remmy said with wide eyes. He moved to go back downstairs but Wendy stopped him. "Wait, do you hear that?" Remmy stopped and listened. He did hear something, it sounded like someone was whimpering in pain. Scanning the room he noticed a pile of debris just off from where the hole in the roof was. "There!" He said with a point before running to the pile with Wendy. Digging through it they soon found the source of the whimpering. Nina, and she seemed to be barely conscious. Wendy immediately examined the damage, a severe magic burn on her right wing and several bruises and scrapes, most likely from the impact. Wendy turned her focus to the magic burn and did her best to heal it. "Is there anything I could do?" Remmy asked. Wendy thought for a second then remembered something. "Phoenix tears, if you could find some then that will help a lot." She said and Remmy nodded, leaving the room swiftly searching before something crossed his mind and he shouted. "Wait… where the hell am I supposed to find phoenix tears?!"

Back outside, the fight wasn't going well for Ethan, Neko and the elder. Neko was nearly exhausted from the battle with more and more dark mages slipping by. The elder was also reaching his limit as the waves of dark mages increased. Meanwhile, Ethan was barely hanging on. The fight against such a stronger opponent was truly taking its toll. He was out of options, he had to give in to the full power of Bloodmoon but, just remembering that monster was frightening. He decimates all in his path. Ethan lost focus and took a solid hit to the side, sending him skidding and rolling along the ground until he hit the bell with a loud ringing sound. The elder let his guard down at this and was hit toward the bell as well. The two of them struggled to get up. "This battle… is over. You all… have lost." Grimshade said. He then walked toward the elders hut but stopped to look back at the two downed mages. "Finish them off." He said as he continued into the hut. The dark mages within the village all turned toward Ethan and the elder and chanted holding their hands or staffs forward. Dark magic gathered before them all and streamed forth, just as a speeding object zoomed out of the trees and flew right in the line of fire. "What the-?!" A few dark mages said in shock as they saw the two still alive… and a floating sword in front of them. "It can't be." The elder said. "Oh, it be all right." The elder turned toward the entrance of the village and saw Yoshi running in. The dark mages all fired dark magic at the newcomer but all blasts were blocked by the floating sword. "Why the hell is that sword not destroyed!" One of the dark mages shouted in panic as it withstood another wave of spells. Yoshi looked up at all the mages in the air. "I could tell you what exactly you're up against. But quite frankly I don't want you all to soil yourselves while floating above us." Yoshi said with a slight smirk." In anger and panic at the unknown weapon and the newcomers confidence the dark mages opened fire with more blasts of dark magic.

Remmy had been all over the hut looking for the phoenix tears. And was about to shout in frustration until he spotted what looked like an alchemy table in the kitchen. Alchemy, phoenix tears were used in that! He made his way into the kitchen and raided the cupboards. Finally finding a batch of the stuff he grabbed some and left the kitchen. He saw Wendy helping Nina down the stairs. The scrapes and bruises looked like they were gone but Nina's right wing still had the magic burn and from the look on Nina's face, it was causing a lot of pain. The small zurg ran to them and held out a few of the vials he found. "I got the phoenix tears, now what?" He asked. Wendy grabbed the vials and opened them. "Now I'm gonna need to apply it to the magic burn along with a healing spell." She said as she turned to the pained nightfright. "Nina, this will hurt a bit. You're gonna have to hold out your wing for me." Nina nodded and lifted her wing out. Wendy carefully poured some drops of the phoenix tears along the magic burn while softly chanting a spell. A thin white mist fogged around the magic burn and it slowly healed. When it was gone, Nina tried moving her wing but flinched slightly. "Your wing is gonna be sore for awhile. The effects of magic burns tend to linger even after they're gone, I suggest not flying for a few days." Wendy said. "Ok but, what about those dark mages? If I can't fly I won't be much help." Nina said in worry as she put away here wings. Remmy snapped his fingers to draw the twos attention. "Not much worry there. Diesel is about to be back in action soon. Now let's hurry and get him back!" He said as he ran to the front room where his mech friend was.

Several flashes of dark purple and black colored lights lit the village as Yoshi swiftly dodged the dark magic blasts with ease. He had gotten the dark mages attention all on himself and drew them away from the others. Brim was still floating and blocking as many spells as he could, much to the anger of the dark mages. "What the hell is this blasted thing?!" One of the mages shouted. They had gotten real close now and Yoshi let out a smirk. He darted left to a wall, jumped onto it and rebounded off. He caught Brim in midair and spun, hitting all the chasing dark mages at once. They all fell in a near unconscious daze, yet they held no wounds. One dark mage still stood through his pain and glared at the red clad pirate. "What kind of sorcery is this?" He growled. Yoshi just looked at him with a smirk. "How about you take a guess. A sentient object oblivious to weaponry, resistant to magic, and simply dazes its foes." He said and his smirk grew at the look of fear on the dark mages face. "Just what are you? How can you control one of those?! HOW CAN YOU CONTROL AN ANIMATED?!" The dark mage asked in increased panic. "I'll let you in on a secret, I don't control him. Brim is my oldest ally. We had an established bond long before he became animated. And he is no normal animated either. He is what many during the battle against the animated called the cursed animation." Yoshi explained. The dark mage nearly fainted hearing that. He had heard a tale of something by that name, but, no, this man couldn't be. "Yo-you're him, aren't you? Yo-you're the crimson pirate, the cursed swordsman." The dark mage said with a shaky voice. Yoshi frowned with a pained look. "Yeah, that's me alright." He said. Not able to take anymore, the dark mage collapsed, and Yoshi looked up at the next wave of dark mages who were heading toward the village center. He quickly followed.

"Alright ladies, this is the moment of truth." Remmy said as he climbed onto Diesel's chestplate and looked at the hole where his power core used to be. "Wendy, ya got that healing spell ready?" He asked as he held out the new power core. "Yes but, mister Remmy, how's a healing spell supposed to help a robot?" Wendy asked to which Remmy just turned and said. "Just trust me, that spell may be the most important part of this." He then took hold of some loose wires around the hole and attached them to the new core. Upon attaching the last wire, Diesel gave a sudden jerk and Remmy lost his balance and fell off. Diesel then let out a loud mechanical shriek and started spazzing about. "Do the spell now!" Remmy shouted as a spazzing arm sent him flying with Nina running to catch him. Wendy faced Diesel and started chanting her spell, nothing. "Remmy, it's not wor-" She stopped as she saw the mech getting up onto his feet. "Wendy, you need to focus on his core! He is reanimating but his systems are not online! You need to heal him quickly before he fully animates!" Remmy explained to which Wendy nodded and poured all her focus into a healing spell on the core. A bright light shone within the core and spread throughout Diesel. All the cracks and breaks around Diesel began to mend, even the broken cockpit glass. Before the glass fully mended, Remmy climbed up and hopped in before sitting at the control console that started to flicker online. The console suddenly went red and an alarm went off. "Alert, intruder at control con-con-console." Diesel spoke in a shrieking voice. "Diesel, old buddy, it's me, Remmy!" The zurg said a little frightened. "Identity not in da-a-atabase, i-i-i-intruder will be terminated." The mech said as it raised the arm that held its gun. Nina ran forward to hold the arm back and Wendy kept her healing spell going. Remmy was afraid. "Diesel, please. You have to remember me. Remember all we've been through. Diesel!"

The battle against the dark mages was slowly spreading beyond the village center. Luckily the mages shielding the village had long since cloaked themselves as to not be noticed by the dark mages, but at a cost. With the shielding mages cloaking themselves, their focus was split and the shield around the village was weakening. Slowly, the edges of the shield crept inward, shrinking and letting more of the intense heat of the surrounding inferno into the village. The effort of maintaining the shield was also taking its toll on many of the defending mages as well, evident as one of them collapses and the shield flickers and fluctuates. The shield barely holds and stabilizes, but the rate of it shrinking increases greatly. Soon the inferno may engulf the village entirely.

Back in the village center, Ethan and the elder have just about reached their limit as more dark mages fly in. "This… this is… insane!" The elder says as he pants from exhaustion. "There's no way Grimshade could have this many followers." Ethan said. Looking closely at a few of the fallen dark mages, the elder notices something. Many of them have the same faces. "Clones, he's made an army of clones!" The elder stated. Ethan scoffed. "He probably only has a dozen or so true followers. This would explain a lot. But judging from the strength of them, I'll say they aren't magic duplicates, but true clones." He said as he raised his white cane up as a magic staff and shot down another few dark mages. "Still, an impressive feat I must admit." The elder said as he too shot down an incoming dark mage. The two stood back to back as they kept on fighting. A rather large group of the dark mages was about to get by but a spinning sword flew by and took them down. The elder and Ethan glanced aside and saw Yoshi running in. "Elder, what's the status of the situation?" The red clad pirate asked as he looked at the next wave of dark mages. "It's an army of clones. And there seems to be no end." The elder informed. Yoshi let out a hum. "Doesn't cloning take time though? Unless they found a way to enhance the growth process and everything with magic." He said. "Perhaps they used magic duplicates as a shortcut and a cloning procedure as a way to stabilize them." Ethan suggested. Yoshi looked over at him with a smirk. "Smart thinking bunny buddy. In that case there would be an endless stream unless someone cut off the source." The pirate said as he tossed Brim at an inbound dark mage. The sword then flew around, taking out more before flying back right into Yoshi's hand. Ethan was about to question how the pirate did that but something caught his eye. "Oh no…" the other two looked in the direction Ethan was and were shocked at what they saw. The biggest wave of dark mages so far, and it covered the sky.

Up in the treetops, Neko was barely able to keep himself up as he huffed and panted in exhaustion. Looking at the western sky his eyes went wide. The sky was almost completely covered with dark mages. "No… way… that's just… that's impossible." Neko said as he shook his head in disbelief. In his shock, the feline lost his balance and fell off the treetop he was on, barely catching hold of a treehouse roof in time and swinging onto the path to the ground. Once he hit ground level he finally gave in to his exhaustion and collapsed. Sinking into his shadow, the feline glided toward the village center. Upon reaching the stunned sky gazing trio at the village center, Neko emerged from the shadow and collapsed once more, startling the trio. "Neko!" Yoshi shouted as he ran over to the fallen feline. "Neko, are you ok?" He asked with worry. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just bit off more than I could chew is all." Neko said with a weak smile. "What about the others, please tell me they're ok." Yoshi said still worried. Neko then pointed at one of the huts. "Nina was shot down and fell in there." He said. "That's where your alien friend was last seen, and where Wendy went as well." Ethan said as he saw where the feline pointed. "If Wendy's with them than they are in good hands." The elder chimed in. A blast was then heard and their attention turned back to the incoming army of dark mages. They had started blasting spells of magic at the village from afar! "This isn't good, if they keep that distance then they are out of our range." The elder stated. A sudden distant clanking shortly followed by a whirring sound was heard and they turned back toward the hut behind them.

Wendy was hidden inside a nearby cabinet under Remmy's order while Nina was using all her strength to hold back the mech who was starting to go berserk. "What's happening, why's Diesel acting like this?" She asked as Diesel tried to throw her off and Remmy held tight to the seat in the cockpit so he wouldn't get tossed around. "He's gone full animated, he doesn't recognize any of us." Remmy explained. He then pounded on the control console. "Diesel please, you got to remember us! Remember me! Remember our crazy exploits we've been through!" Remmy tried getting through to the mech. An idea then crossed his mind. "Remember… memory! Of course!" The small zurg reached into a secret compartment on the console and pulled out a disk case. He then pried open another compartment on the console that held a disk drive before inserting the disk. "Time to jog your memory old buddy." Remmy said. Diesel froze as the disk was inserted. Within his databanks, various images and recorded footage were uploaded.

 _"Systems online. Greetings creator." The mech had said to a tiny alien being. "Hello Diesel. My name is Remmy, and we are gonna have the best adventures together." The small alien said as the footage changed to more images and footage of various points in time. One of which the mech was heavily damaged. "Systems b-b-b-beyond repair-air-air." The mech informed a sad looking Remmy. "Don't say that buddy. I can rebuild you, I can make you stronger, you'll see." The zurg said determined. As the footage flickered to black before flickering back online to a hopeful looking Remmy. "I am… still functional? How?" The mech asked the small zurg. "I… raided an abandoned factory in Aekea for some parts. But it's not enough." Remmy said looking saddened. With a scan the mech could tell his repairs were a temporary fix. "System stability is low. Possibility of system failure at 90%." Diesel said. A look of determination made its way onto Remmy's face. "I'm not losing you buddy. I've got a plan." The footage then went to various images of plans, schematics, and the build of their base in the Aekea outskirts. Footage of the raid on an abandoned g-corp building then followed. "System stability now at 85%." Diesel informed. With a grin of pride, Remmy let out a laugh. "Once we get your systems back up to 100, we can use my latest invention to get you some upgrades buddy!" He said. Diesel tilted his head in curiosity, accidentally making Remmy hit his head on the cockpit window. "And what invention is that?" The mech asked. Remmy rubbed his hurt head but was too proud to complain. "A reverse engineering device. Old buddy, once you're ready, we are taking on the big boys and then nothing can take you down. Next stop…" The footage then cut to different images as the spots in time were mentioned. "J-corp." A spooky looking building was seen with a schematic of an intimidating low armor mech design beside it. "S-corp." An image of a building in a snowy area was seen with a schematic of a high armor mech design. "E-corp." An image of an egg shaped base by a mountain was seen with a schematic of a medium armor mech design. "No matter how bad you get banged up, I will always be here to rebuild you buddy." Remmy said with a sincere voice as footage of him tirelessly working on putting Diesel back together after the events of e-corp played._

The red glow and alarms from the control console slowly faded away and a static noise was briefly heard. "Systems online." Diesel spoke as he looked around. "Is everyone… ok?" The mech asked. Nina released her hold on the mech and Remmy wiped away some tears. "Yeah, we're just fine ya big lugnut." The zurg said trying to not get all emotional. "It's safe to come out now Wendy!" Remmy called. The young mage opened the cabinet door and peeked out. "Mr Diesel is all better now?" She asked. "Scans indicate all systems green. Hmm? Wait… scans pick up… a life signature? I am… alive?" The mech questioned. "Animated, old buddy. The last upgrade I had planned for you." Remmy said as he patted the control console. "I had it planned for quite awhile but the last parts were near impossible to find. Heh, luckily ol' Nic came through earlier and managed to obtain some for us." The small zurg explained. "Those purple crystals he gave us, what were they? The item isn't in my information databank." Remmy was about to answer but a long range scanner screen popped up with a proximity alert. "What… it can't be…" Remmy said with fear. "What is it Remmy?" Nina asked as she saw the look of fear on the small zurg's face. "I believe a look out the window would answer your question." Diesel said as he pointed to a window at the front of the hut. The group looked and gasped at the sight. The sky was full of dark mages and they where blasting the village from a distance. "The-there's so many. What can we do?" Wendy asked shaking in fear. Nina hugged the frightened little mage and Remmy grit his teeth. "Might I suggest… E-Series?" Diesel spoke. Remmy jolted and snapped his fingers. "Diesel, you are a metallic genius." Remmy said with a smirk.

"Alright ladies, stand back and watch." Remmy said as he pressed buttons on the console in a swift flurry. Wendy and Nina stepped back and Diesel's armor plating started to shift. Clanking sounds filled the air as the mech's form shifted. His arms became cannons, red tubes exposed on his shoulder and knee plates. His armor took on a lighter appearance. "Mobility status, high. Armor status, medium protection. Energy egg cannons, online." Diesel spoke and pointed his cannon arms out the window. "Alright Diesel, Prime the cannons." Remmy said with a smirk. A whirring sound filled the air as energy built up in the cannons. "Ladies, ya might want to cover your ears for this part." The zurg warned as Wendy and Nina followed his warning. "Targets locked." Diesel informed. "Fire, energy eggs!" Remmy shouted and with a loud energetic screech, two egg shaped energy projectiles fired off out the window and into the sky. Outside the hut, Yoshi, Ethan and the elder all covered their ears at the loud energy screech. Almost at the targets, the energy eggs split into fragments and exploded on impact with the army of dark mages, lighting up the sky. "Whoa! Where'd that come from?!" Ethan asked loud as he hoped he had no loss of hearing. The door to the hut opened and out walked Diesel, Nina and Wendy. Yoshi's jaw dropped at the new form Diesel has taken. "Diesel? Is that you?!" He asked. The mech let out a laugh. "Affirmative captain." He said and Remmy cheered loudly at the sight in the sky. "Holy cow! E-corp tech packs a punch! Even if it's just a reverse engineered copy of it and not the real deal, just… wow!" The zurg cheered. Yoshi looked at him with a serious look. "That's not the end of them, they are clones, which mean there must be a cloning mechanism creating more and more." He informed. Remmy nodded and pulled up a screen for the long range scanner. "So we need to find a source point of life signatures and possible power fluxuation. Got it!" He swiftly pressed a few buttons and Diesel's rocket jets came online. "Alright Diesel, let's take flight!" The zurg said with great enthusiasm. In the air, Diesel's form shifted again. His body went horizontal with the cockpit locking in place to the chestplate. His legs melded together and his arm cannons melded to his sides. "E-series flight mode engaged!" Remmy said as the mech turned jet sped off to the west where all the dark mages were coming from.

After the mech zoomed off, the remaining group gathered in a circle to plan what to do next. "Alright, even with the dark mages being handled we still have the inferno around the village to deal with. Wendy, I'm certain there are injured mages in the village, can you go with Nina to search and rescue?" Yoshi asked to which the young mage nodded. Ethan looked toward the edge of the village and saw the shield fluctuating between visible and transparent, it was shrinking fast. "We are going to need a way to get them out as well. The shield around the village doesn't look like it could hold much longer." He said. Neko winced in exhausted pain but stepped forward. "I'll go with them as well, I could get them out safely through the shadows." He said to which Yoshi turned to him with a worried look. "Are you sure? You strain yourself just shadow transporting one person, this is a whole village of people we're talking about here. And you're weak enough from fighting as it is!" Neko was about to argue his decision but was distracted by a light surrounding him. Wendy was healing him. "I could heal him as well after each transport. It's the best course of action to evacuate the village." She said as her spell finished and Neko stretched away what little fatigue was left. "I suggest finding the defender group first, they are the ones maintaining the shield and with the state it's in… I worry for them." The elder said. The designated search and rescue team nodded. Before leaving, Wendy did a quick healing spell to heal everyone.

With the search and rescue group gone, the elder turned to Yoshi. "Thank you for returning when we needed help." He said. Before he could respond, Ethan clapped his paws together. "Alright Mr plan-it-all. What do me and the elder do now?" He asked to which Yoshi's expression went serious. "I sense an immensely strong force within the village, but I can't pinpoint it." He said and the elder's eyes went wide. "Grimshade!" With the waves of dark mages, he forgot about the leader of them. "He must be in my hut! We have to stop him before he gets the book of light!" The elder ran toward his hut as fast as he could with Yoshi and Ethan right behind him. As the elder went to open the door, it was blown off its hinges by a burst of magic, sending it and the elder flying. "Elder!" Ethan shouted as he went to see if he was ok. Yoshi was about to as well but a dark chuckle stopped him. He turned toward the hole where the door once stood as did Ethan and the injured elder. "You all put up a valiant effort, but I'm afraid it was all in vain." Spoke the dark mage leader. He held up a hand, holding a white book that seemed to emit its own light. Then the other hand, which held a black book that seemed to consume the light around it. "The book of light… and the book of darkness… together once more." He said with a voice of victory. Yoshi ran forward to try and snatch the books but a surge of magic pushed him back. "This day, this day marks the beginning of a new Gaian age! The age… of chaos!" Grimshade shouted as he brought the two tomes together above him. They began melding together and turning a deep crimson as the dark mage leader let out a grand laugh of triumph


	8. Standing Against Chaos, Part 1

"You all put up a valiant effort, but I'm afraid it was all in vain." Spoke Grimshade. He held up a hand, holding a white book that seemed to emit its own light. Then the other hand, which held a black book that seemed to consume the light around it. "The book of light… and the book of darkness… together once more." He said with a voice of victory. Yoshi ran forward to try and snatch the books but a surge of magic pushed him back. "This day, this day marks the beginning of a new Gaian age! The age… of chaos!" Grimshade shouted as he brought the two tomes together above him. They began melding together and turning a deep crimson as the dark mage leader let out a grand laugh of triumph.

~ Ch.8: Standing Against Chaos, Part 1.

Dark thundering clouds filled the sky over the southern forest. Winds ripped through the area, spreading the flames faster. The village was now the only spot left of the forest untouched by the raging inferno. Speeding above the flames a mech/jet was nearing the western cliffs. The pilot looks up at the sky. "Where the hell did this weather come from?" Remmy questioned. "Forget the weather anomaly for now, we have incoming." Diesel said getting the small zurg's attention. He had the mech stop in midair and hover upon seeing the sight in front of them. "Prime the egg cannons Diesel." He said in a serious tone. "Egg cannons primed." Diesel informed. "Alright, now BLAST THAT MOVING WALL OUT OF THE SKY!" Remmy panicked as a wall of dark mages swiftly approached.

In the center of the village, the situation looked pretty grim as a field of magic energy shielded the laughing Grimshade from all Yoshi's and Ethan's attempts to get the book. The elder was left too weak from his injuries and was told to hide somewhere. As a last ditch effort, Yoshi swung Brim at the magic shield. Sparks flew from the shield as it cracked but it repaired itself and blasted Yoshi back with twice the force he swung with, knocking him over. "Yoshi! You ok?" Ethan asked. The pirate got back to his feet and ran in for another strike getting the same result. "There's got to be a way around this thing!" He said as he got up once more. "There's something wrong." Brim spoke. "Whoa! Your sword talks?!" Ethan asked in surprise. "Of course something's wrong Brim, the tome of chaos is returning." Yoshi said to which the sword shook. "Not that. Look at Grimshade's face." Brim said. The pirate and bunny looked at each other before turning to the laughing dark mage leader. The site shocked them. Grimshade's face was covered in tears and he looked like something was torturing him. Come to think of it… the laughing started to sound like cries of pain. "Wha- what's happening to him?" Ethan asked. "If I had to guess, I would say the tome of chaos is too powerful for him. It's consuming him." The blade theorized. A sudden wave of energy swept through the air nearly knocking Yoshi and Ethan down. "You are correct, animated blade." Spoke an echoing voice. The two looked around trying to find where the voice came from. Their eyes then fell upon the floating red book.

Running along the edge of the shield around the village, the search and rescue group was slowly getting everyone out of the village. They had found and healed four out of the five remaining mages who managed the shield. It was too late for the sixth as he was seen outside in the inferno, possibly due to the shrinking shield. There were other mages who were stepping up to help with the shield as well but they weren't experienced enough to hold the shield and cloak themselves as well, so most of them were talked into evacuating. Some though were too dedicated to the village to see it fall and said to evacuate them last. When the storm clouds and galeing winds picked up they knew something was wrong. "I hope Uncle Ethan's ok." Wendy said worried. "Hey, from what I seen earlier he is no slouch in combat. He may very well even be a match in skill to Yoshi, who may I remind you is back there with him." Neko said as he emerged from the shadows, having just evacuated another of the village mages. "Is he really that good? I've never seen anyone as strong as Uncle Ethan." Wendy said as they started moving to the huts to look for more of the hiding mages. Neko turned to Wendy with a smirk. "And I have never seen anyone who can take down Yoshi, especially when he has someone or something to fight for."

Looking for the voice they heard, Yoshi and Ethan turned to the newly reformed tome of chaos. It had grown in size and its pages looked tattered and worn out and its red cover seemed to be pulsating, but its most striking change was the yellow eye on its cover that looked back at them. "My my my, is this magic user truly the fabled dark hearted mage who reformed me? How pathetic." The tome said in its echoing voice with distaste as a dark purple aura flowed out of it. The dark energy felt from the book had Yoshi and Ethan frozen in shock. It was the strongest power they ever felt. "Oh well, a body is a body, and I can't rule as a simple book now can I?" The tome spoke as the energy condensed along with the magic shield into the book. A stream of magic then bolted down onto Grimshade who let out a shriek of pain as his appearance began to change. His skin turned dark as the night, his eyes red as blood and all around him a dark aura was flowing off him like steam. After a bit of silence from him the changed dark mage let out a low echoing chuckle that slowly shifted to a booming laugh that rivaled the thunder above the village. "I am the shroud of chaos, and my power shall spread through all of Gaia and cover it in chaos." Yoshi shook his head to clear it from shock and glared at the force in front of him. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" He shouted, internally cringing at how cliche that line is. Hearing Yoshi's declaration of defiance to the shroud of chaos snapped Ethan out of his shock as well and he to glared at the force before them. "So… the mice seek to take on the lion." Shroud said with a smirk. "Very well, may you be the first to feel my power." He said as he reached up and grabbed the tome he came from.

Flying backwards, Diesel let out shot after shot of energy eggs at the army of dark mage clones that approached. "This is definitely not good. We're barely making a dent and their too close for the scattershot to be effective!" Remmy panicked as he desperately thought of what to do. Diesel then sensed something in the distance. "Scanners are picking up energy fluctuations and more life signatures." He said as Remmy opened the screens for the scanners. "It seems to be at the edge of the scanners range, but we could get there in no time flat at top speed. But that doesn't change the fact we got a LITERAL WALL OF CLONES TO GET THROUGH!" He said, still in a panic. "Wait… through… I have an idea!" The zurg said as he hit a few buttons. Diesel's legs twisted and shifted inward before being replaced by a drill. "Flying drill mode engaged! If we hurry, then we could take out the cloning mechanism and come back to finish these guys before they reach the village, plus we'll have the distance for the egg cannons scattershot!" Remmy said with a smirk. "Yet another genius plan!" He said with a laugh. Diesel sighed at Remmy's ego but could not deny it was their best shot. "Probability of success is 83% but we could do it." Diesel informed. "Alright then. Full steam ahead and take out as many as you can on approach!" Remmy said as Diesel primed the egg cannons and flipped his rockets from reverse to forward. With the push of a button the drill at the front spun at high speed before Diesel fired the energy eggs… and an interesting effect took place. The energy eggs got caught in the wind generated by the drill in a sort of centrifugal force effect and shot them out at an angle. The surprise of the effect caused Diesel and Remmy to stop and watch. "Welp… didn't see that coming." Remmy said with a sweatdrop. The energy eggs then scattered and took out half the dark mages to the sides. "Whoohoo! Definitely didn't see that one coming but I'm glad it happened!" Remmy cheered. "I assume the added force from the drills spin destabilized the energy eggs and sped up the scattershot process." Diesel theorized. "Well whatever it was, we got a new tactic that changes the odds! Now let's smash down this wall!" Remmy said as Diesel primed the egg cannons once more.

Back in the village center, things were going from bad to worse. Shroud was nearly untouchable while Yoshi and Ethan were struggling to dodge his blasts of dark magic. "Surely you two can put forth a better effort than this. This is barely even an exercise for me." Shrouds voice echoed. Ethan then made a dash forward to which shroud shot a blast of magic at him. Barely dodging it with a swift sidestep, Yoshi was revealed behind him and swung Brim like a bat, hitting the spell back. Shroud brought forth the tome of chaos and it seemed to absorb the spell into its eye. The book then opened and from its pages a beam of magic streamed out, which the two barely dodged as well. "This is ridiculous. Those spells are insane. This guy's speed is insane. That dang book is insane!" Yoshi shouted in a short frustrated rant. Ethan's face turned cold serious. "I hate to say it, but I think the best option would be to fight insane with insane." He said as he reached for his moonstone amulet that he loosened when the battle to protect the village began. "What do you mean by that?" Yoshi questioned. "You'll see, and I advise you to stand back." Ethan said as he stepped forward toward Shroud. "So, the rabbit seeks to fight me alone? Well then, may rabbit season begin then." Shroud joked with a wicked smirk. Ethan chuckled. "There is more to me than you realize, and underestimating me will be your undoing. I now introduce you to the power of Bloodmoon. And by the way, I'm not a rabbit…" Ethan removed the amulet and dropped it aside, glaring with his blue shifting to red eyes at Shroud. "I'm a bunny."

As Ethan's eyes shifted, Yoshi sensed an intense force growing from him. "He was holding back this much power? … No, this is too much power, that amulet must've been sealing it." Yoshi said as he observed. Shroud looked impressed. "My my, so much power, if I had to guess, I would say you can barely control it when fully unleashed, am I right." Shroud said. Ethan didn't reply, only glare. The bunny then swiftly raised his cane and let out a burst of magic at the possessed dark mage. Shroud's eyes widened before he shot his own burst of magic to intercept. The colliding spells filled the air with smoke, which Ethan used to cover his approach. Before Shroud could sense him, Ethan emerged from the smoke and fired a massive burst of magic point blank, sending Shroud colliding with a nearby hut that collapsed on top of him. The bunny stood in place, not taking his eyes off the fallen hut as the smoke cleared up. Yoshi, who was watching the battle was impressed, but at the same time, worried. "This, 'Bloodmoon' power Ethan holds, it feels greatly similar to ours with Crimson." Brim stated. "But he could actually control his unleashed power to a point it seems. We cannot unleash Crimson, ever." Yoshi said in a greatly serious tone. "Yes. The risk is too high." Brim stated. Yoshi turned back to watch as a dark echoing chuckle was heard from the hut.

The rubble from the hut began to shift and dark purple light shone through the wreckage. The debris was then blasted away as Shroud unleashed a burst of magic. He lifted his arm to his mouth to wipe away some blood. "My my, this battle suddenly got interesting." The possessed mage spoke as he rose up from the destroyed hut. "That was a point blank hit Ethan did! How is he still so unharmed?!" Yoshi wondered. "This being truly must be an embodiment of chaos. This battle is not going to be easy." Brim stated. Yoshi grit his teeth. "There must be something we can… wait." Yoshi turned his gaze to the tome of chaos. "Perhaps we don't have to defeat Shroud to win this battle." He said with a smile that turned to a frown. "But we can't risk getting in Ethan's way though." Yoshi said clenching his fist. "In that case I would say our hands are tied… if I had hands." Brim joked earning a chuckle from Yoshi. "Now I wouldn't say that. We just need a way to get him to hear us out without Chaos's puppet hearing us." The pirate said. A crash was heard that brought their attention back to the battle. This time it was Ethan that was blasted into a hut… and a lightly injured Shroud was on approach to the hut. "Shoot, no time to plan now!" Yoshi said as he made a move to dash into the battle. Before he could, a white burst of magic whizzed by from off to the side and struck Shroud hard. "Leave Uncle Ethan alone!"


	9. Standing Against Chaos, Part 2

**Last time…**  
 _The tome of chaos has been reformed, and with its return, a great dark force known as the Shroud of Chaos was unleashed.  
While few went to rescue those of the mage village…  
While a dynamic duo took to the skies to stop an approaching army…  
Two fighters, Yoshi and Ethan, were pushed to their limits in a fight that they seemed about to lose.  
But Ethan soon unleashed his full sealed power and the battle seemed to take a turn for the better.  
Meanwhile Yoshi was putting together a plan to defeat Shroud.  
But before he could share his plan, Ethan had been taken down.  
Before Shroud can finish him off…  
Before the pirate could jump in to help…  
A burst of light magic shot through the air and struck down the dark force._  
"Leave Uncle Ethan alone!"

~ Ch.9: Standing Against Chaos, Part 2.

Yoshi's attention had turned to the newcomer of the battle as he recognized the voice from earlier. "Wendy?! What are you doing here?!" He questioned. He then saw Neko and Nina round the nearby corner. "There you are Wendy. Don't just run off like that." Nina said with relief as she spotted the young mage. Neko looked at the debris around the area with a raised eyebrow. "I take it there's a battle going on." The feline stated to which Yoshi nodded. "Yep, and it's a tough one." Yoshi said before hearing a noise from the nearby hut and running over to it with the others not far behind. He started digging through the rubble and spotted a long white ear sticking out. "Found him!" He said as the others helped dig out the fallen bunny. Ethan let out a groan of pain as he opened his eyes and looked around. "Ugh, anyone get the number on that truck that hit me." He joked. "Was it a truck or a train?" Yoshi joked as he helped him up. Ethan let out a pained chuckle at that. "Might've been both. Where did he go anyway?" The bunny asked looking around. Yoshi pointed at the fallen Shroud a little ways away. "Your little mage blindsided him pretty good a minute ago and he hasn't moved since." He said. "Little ma-? Wendy!" Ethan shouted looking around again until he saw Wendy standing behind Nina. "Wendy you're supposed to be searching the village to heal and evacuate everyone, far away from the battle!" Ethan said trying not to shout. This caught Yoshi's attention and he had to ask what was on his mind. "How do you control it?" The question caught Ethan off guard. "What?" The bunny asked confused. "All your power, I sense it, and that much power is enough to consume anyone when unleashed. How do you control it?" Yoshi asked. Before Ethan could answer, a noise was heard and the group turned to see a slowly rising Shroud. "So… you two were fighting this guy. On a scale of one to ten, how bad is he." Neko asked. "Well, given the fact he's an embodiment of chaos, and probably really pissed off now. I would say thirteen." Ethan said. Neko shuddered. "Unlucky thirteen, this is gonna be fun."

Having just taken down the wall of dark mage clones with their newly discovered scattershot technique, Remmy and Diesel were swiftly approaching the western cliffs. "Scans are detecting the cloning mechanism at the bottom of that cliff." The mech/jet informed. "Yeah, along with a number of rising clones. Let's light em up Diesel!" Remmy said as Diesel spun upward over the cliff and transformed back into his mech form with a backflip and dived straight down. "Ok buddy, no need to showoff cause we've got incoming." Remmy said. "This area is too confined for the egg cannons, we will get caught in the blast." Diesel informed as Remmy was pressing a few buttons on the console. "Way ahead of you, switching over to your swiftest melee form to make swift work of this." Remmy stated. Diesel's armor started sinking inward revealing glowing orange circuitry along his body, arms and legs, while his feet sunk inward making his legs end in a point. One arm became wrapped in a flexible fabric like metal with sharp sturdy claws at the end while the other arm extended a menacing sword with a pumpkin shaped hand guard. And the final form shift was his rockets, which opened up, releasing 3 wings on each side before also sinking inward. "Transformation complete. J-series mode engaged. Mobility status, very high. Armor status, light." Diesel spoke as the transformation finished. "Alright, now let's give them hell!" Remmy said as the approaching dark mages came into view.

As the group faced the rising Shroud, Yoshi decided to tell his plan. "Alright everyone, this guy is tough, we are no match in a straight on fight. Our objective is getting that book away from him. Am I clear?" The pirate captain said as everyone nodded. "So, how do we get the tome of chaos though, fight as a distraction till we see an opening?" Ethan questioned. "You got it bunny buddy." Yoshi said with a smirk. "I am not ok with that nickname." Ethan said with a chuckle. A sudden dark energy filled the air as Shroud stood and turned toward the group, eyes glowing with chaotic energy. "Who dares to strike me in the back?" Shroud asked, voice more echoing and distorted than before. Wendy flinched back in fear. Seeing this, Nina stepped forward. "I did, I refuse to let my friends fight alone." She said, taking the blame as she took out her wings. She may not be ready to fly, but she sure as hell could still fight. "My my my, a nightfright. Haven't seen one of your kind in ages. Although, you seem… different from the ones I knew of." Shroud said. Standing tall, Nina gave Shroud a glare. "I am Nina Frightmare, heir to the nightfright kingdom of another realm. I have seen many battles and fought off many who sought to harm my people, and you will be no exception as you have hurt my friends." She said with a bit of anger in her voice. The others in the group stepped forward and matched her glare. "Well then. Enough talk. If you want to challenge me…" Shroud let out a dark chuckle as he lifted the tome of chaos, as well as the black staff he had yet to use in the battle. "Then may the showdown begin!" Shroud said grandly as he let loose several bursts of magic. The group swiftly scattered to dodge them. "You know, that mech friend of yours would be a great help about now." Ethan stated. Yoshi couldn't help but agree, they needed all the firepower they could get with this guy. "Hurry up you guys." He said glancing to the west.

Diesel and Remmy were approaching the target fast. "I am detecting major amounts of dark energy emitting from this area." Diesel said to which Remmy couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Of course, what do you expect from dark mage territory? Definitely not sunshine and rainbows. Now let's just find that cloning mechanism." Remmy said. Diesel turned to where the scanners were picking up energy fluctuations and swiftly flew toward it. What they found was a flattened out area with the floor covered in magic runes leading to a circle of ten towers of machinery. On each tower stood a chanting dark mage. In the center of the circle was a chamber that launched out dark mage clones to the sky where they were gathering. "What is this?" Diesel asked. Looking at the setup, Remmy could not deny that he was impressed. "Looks like some really advanced magi-tech." He said as he took in the sight of the mechanism. "We need to take this thing out fast. It's powerful tech and it's in the wrong hands." Remmy said as he broke from admiring the design of the thing. Diesel readied his sword and claw to strike. "Take out the mages first then we'll blow this thing sky high." Remmy said as he looked from dark mage to dark mage.

In a blink Diesel swiftly took out the closest dark mage before hiding from sight, catching the attention of the others. "What the hell was that?!" "I don't know, how bout ya check it out." "What? No! You check it out!" "How about you both check it out while the rest of us deal with the clones. And do it before I summon thunder on your hides." A couple of the dark mages argued. The two who got the best glimpse of what happened floated away from the cloning mechanism to see what had found them. "Stupid Alex with his empty threats, he knows damn well his big thunder spells need open sky to work. Is there open sky? No, just a bunch of clones for the sake of a prophecy that who knows is real or not." One dark mage ranted. "And you know as well as I do, not to question Grimshades plans and yet you always do." The other said. "He's a loon! Obsessed with that story about that chaos book or whatever! Not to mention this deal he has with that kook of a scientist or whatever he is." While the two bickered, Diesel swiftly moved back to the mechanism. His scans determined these two are the small fries of the dark mages power wise. "Let's hurry and finish this thing, I've been having a bad feeling that something's not right back at the village and it's making me worry." Remmy said. Diesel rose up his sword and removed the pumpkin handguard. "The jack o' jammer. It should disrupt the mechanism and buy us time to take out the clones." The mech suggested, and Remmy got an idea to add to it. "And if we increase the frequency beyond max, it should go boom in about an estimated three and a half minutes. Oooh, this is gonna be a blast."

Back at the village, the air was pulsing with energy as the ground shook from explosions of magic. The unnatural wind in the air had kicked up the flames of the surrounding forest enough to completely engulf the shield around the village. It looked like the fires of hell itself were rising around the village border. Yoshi and Neko struggled to get close enough to land any hits on Shroud while Nina threw energy wave after energy wave from her wings at him. Ethan used his cane as a staff to channel his magic into spells that he fired and Wendy made sure to keep a distance from the battle, only approaching to heal anyone who was hit. Neither side was giving an inch as the surrounding area became rubble. Dust and magic energy saturated the air creating a light haze that glowed with the light of the surrounding fire outside the villages shield.

"And… that should do it!" Remmy said as he adjusted the frequency of the jack o' jammer. The device started to let out a static hum as Diesel took it and gave it a swiftly aimed toss. The jammer went through and got lodged in a small gap of exposed circuitry of the cloning mechanism. By a quick scan and calculation from Diesel, that was the weakest point in the mechanism. "Alright then. Now let's take these guys out!" Remmy shouted as Diesel readied his sword and claw before swiftly moving in and taking out a dark mage. "Wha- what the hell is that?!" One dark mage shouted as they fumbled with preparing a spell. "Doesn't matter, just take it out!" Another dark mage ordered as they readied an electric spell and launched it at Diesel. The mech took the spell head on and sparks coursed through him. His face moved in a way that slightly resembled a smirk. "That actually tingled a bit." He said. "I would say more than a bit for me." Remmy said as his eyes swirled and he jittered a bit from the shock. "Oops, sorry." Diesel said as he avoided another spell that flew by. Remmy shook his head to get refocused. "Alright, let's get this over with. The clocks ticking!" He said. One of the dark mages let out a growl and looked at the gathered clones above them. "Don't just float there! Get that mech!" They ordered. All eyes turned to Diesel. "Uh-oh. This isn't good." Remmy said going a bit wide eyed. "Rocket retreat?" Diesel asked sounding a bit worried as well. "Yep!" Remmy shouted as he hit several buttons. As the clone army approached with readied spells, Diesel's form shifted once more. Red and green armor plating rose up and flipped around covering his feet, legs, chestplate, lower arms and hands. His wings sunk inward and from his back emerged a powerful floating rocket. "Skip the system check and jump into flying drill mode now!" Remmy shouted as the dark mages all opened fire at once. Diesel went through his usual transformation into flight mode, but this time the rocket floated to the backside of the cockpit and attached with a magnetic spark. Once his legs flipped inward and was replaced by the giant drill, he wasted no time revving it up to max spin and flying off through the massive army. "Don't let that thing get aw-" One of the dark mages was about to order, but a growing hum drew his attention. He turned and floated toward the mechanism to inspect it. "Something wrong Alex?" Another mage asked. Alex ignored them and approached the source of the hum. He saw a heavily sparking device lodged in the circuitry and went wide eyed.

Pushing their way through the army of clones, Diesel and Remmy hear a sudden series of explosions. "Welp, that went well." Remmy said. "We're not safe yet. Extreme heat source rising toward us." Diesel informed "Are you kidding me!" Remmy shouted bringing up the scanner screens. "Looks like that explosion was more effective than we thought it would be!" He said as he observed the heat source on the scanners… and disappearing life signatures the moment they touch it. Remmy gulped in fear. "We won't stand a chance if that thing catches u- what?" The lights of the control console flickered and dimmed. The rockets gave a sudden burst of power. "Diverting all excess power to rockets. We will make it." Diesel said. In a few tense moments, the explosion seemed to be catching up. Once the scanners showed they were back to the surface level, Diesel pulled a hard turn and leveled out as the explosion passed by, barely grazing the tip of Diesels rockets. "Whoohoo! That was an absolute blast! But let's never do that again!" Remmy cheered short of breath. A sudden alarm cut him off. "What's going on now?" The zurg shifted the scanner screen to long range and was shocked at the energy signature that was being picked up. "Diesel!" Remmy started. "Already on it." The mech said as he set course for the mage village. "Please be ok everybody." Remmy said in worry.


	10. The Battles End

In the glowing haze of dust and magic from the intense battle, Shroud looked around in disappointment. Everyone was down and had reached their limit with exhaustion quickly setting in. "Is this truly the best you mortals can do? Pathetic. And here I was hoping our battle would at least be amusing." He said before frowning as a few of the group started getting back up. "If you think I'm giving up… after what you put my village through… you have another thing coming." Ethan said with a glare. "Not only that. But you won't stop till the world falls to chaos. Won't you?" Yoshi said through grit teeth as he held his side where his vest and shirt was ripped with the skin baring a bad magic burn. He twitched a bit as his eye gave a flash of red. But it subsided as he took a deep breath. Shroud let out a huff before lazily firing magic at each of them, not even bothering to manifest it into spells. They just stood through the magic blasts and moved to approach Shroud. "Well, I think it's time to end this, once and for all." Shroud said as he manifested a powerful spell from the tome of chaos. Before he could fire the spell, a sudden booming sound caught his attention along with the others. Before anyone could move, something streaked by right toward Shroud.

~ Ch.10: The Battles End

Shroud barely had time to summon a shield against the object. The shielding magic held for not even a second before the object broke through, hitting Shroud through the air. With a loud clanging crash, the two collided into the town center's bell and tumbled into a nearby hut. "What just-?" Ethan questioned as he looked to where the thing and Shroud went. Yoshi smiled as he had a good idea of what the projectile was. He turned to where Shroud once stood and his jaw dropped. "The book!" He shouted as he quickly made his approach. Shroud must've dropped it when he was hit! Ethan turned to see Yoshi about to pick up the tome of chaos and went wide eyed. "Don't touch it!" He warned, but it was too late. Yoshi had picked up the tome and a dark aura surrounded him making him shout out in pain.

Yoshi opened his eyes and all around him was darkness, along with faint ghostly images faded in and out of focus around him. Images he knew but didn't want to remember. Screams were heard as he tried to cover his ears. He couldn't relive this. He couldn't take it. He ran in the darkness but the images followed. There was no escaping it. "You cannot run from yourself forever." A voice said that stopped Yoshi in his tracks. His blood going cold as ice. He slowly turned around and saw a sight he wished could be wiped from existence. Before he could react, a sudden flash of light swept through the darkness.

Opening his eyes with a gasp of shock, Yoshi saw he was still holding the tome of chaos, and so were Ethan, Neko and Wendy. Magic energy was sparking where they held it. "Not the smartest move there Yoshi." Ethan said with a pained smirk. Yoshi let out a sheepish laugh. "Just the relief of getting the thing away from Shroud got the best of me I guess." He said to which Ethan nodded. "Alright now, this thing is too strong for any of us to take care of on our own. So we work together. Neko and I'll stabilize the energy within it and you two pull the opposing forces apart. Am I clear?" Ethan said with authority. Yoshi and Wendy nodded. "How exactly do I stabilize it?" Neko questioned. "Just focus on separating the light and dark forces." Ethan stated to which Neko hesitantly nodded. "All right, let's get this over with!" Ethan shouted as he sent a powerful pulse of magic through the tome. The tome let out sparking streams of chaotic purple magic energy in retaliation. With a few more pulses of magic from Ethan, the purple streams of magic started to shift to streams of grey, then to black and white. "Now!" Ethan ordered. Yoshi and Wendy pulled with all their might at the tome. Cracks of glowing energy started forming along the middle of the tome as the color started to fade. The eye centered on the book looked around panicked before glowing a deep purple and sending out a chaotic pulse of energy. Yoshi and Wendy withstood the blast, but Ethan and Neko were caught off guard and thrown back. "Neko/Ethan!" Yoshi and Wendy shouted in worry. In their distraction the tome of chaos tried putting itself back together. Seeing this, Neko jumped back to his feet. "No you don't you stupid book!" He said as he grabbed the book once more, Ethan not far behind.

All four holding the tome focused all their might on pulling the opposing forces apart. The magic energy being released in the process thickened the air, making it hard to breath but they couldn't give up. The tome of chaos had several glowing cracks forming and the eye in the center glowed deep purple once more. Neko then jabbed it with one of his claws causing the tome to screech. "Not this time you scholastic nightmare. More cracks formed rapidly as the tome screeched and a sudden flash blinded everyone as they were thrown back.

Once more, Yoshi opened his eyes to look around. The air seemed drastically clearer than before, and brighter. Getting up, he saw that all the dust and magic in the air had cleared, and it was morning. Looking around more he saw Ethan, Wendy, Neko, and himself were all on beds set up outside a collapsed hut. "Oh, so you're finally awake I see." Someone said. Yoshi turned and saw the village elder along with a few other mages. "Elder, you're ok. What happened?" Yoshi questioned. The elder looked to the others who were still out. "You did it, that's what happened. You four defeated the tome of chaos. But the energy released knocked you all out pretty good." He informed. "Oh, and Grimshade became himself again, minus his magic. The events of that battle seemed to have sapped him of it all. Your mech, zurg and nightfright friends are guarding him." Yoshi nodded at that. But something bugged him a bit. "What about the books. Are they safe?" He asked. The elder looked aside before turning his gaze next to the pirate. Yoshi followed his gaze and saw the books of light and dark on a table… along with two others that seemed almost ethereal and semi transparent. Before he could ask about them, the elder cleared his throat. "It was a bit of a difficult task getting them there… they seem to each have become soulbound to you all."

The elder walked to the table. "The book of light. It connected onto the one with the purest soul, Wendy. The one we have decided to call book of radiance, it has connected to the one with the strongest light energy, Ethan. The one we called the book of shadows, Neko." The elder listed them off as he gestured to each book. Knowing what the only one remaining was, Yoshi groaned. "And the book of darkness has chosen me, right?" The elder simply nodded at Yoshi's question. Yoshi gave a defeated chuckle and smirk. "Why must I be burdened with darkness each time I come here old man?" He asked. The elder gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "You've done well in taming your inner darkness old friend." He stated. Yoshi thought back to when he grabbed the tome of chaos. Those ghostly images. Who he saw. The pirate shuddered as he recalled the mirror image of himself who had flaming red eyes. "More like locking him up in the depths of my soul. Crimson can't be tamed. He's nothing but a bloodthirsty killing force." Yoshi said as a tear came to his eye. "After what he did, I can't risk letting him surface." Said the pirate as he recalled the ghostly images. It was at this point when the others began to stir and wake up. They were then filled in on the events that took place.

Within one of the last standing huts, Diesel (back in his default form) and Nina stood outside a makeshift cage of pipes and wood holding Grimshade behind it. Grimshade was complaining and making empty threats. "Just shut up already. If you have any complaints, how about taking it up with the complaint department." Remmy says as he had Diesel hold up his shotgun arm. This shut the now magicless dark mage up quick. Nina meanwhile sighed as she looked out a broken window at the village. It was almost completely destroyed, and the surrounding forest was burnt to ashes and charred wood. The elder did inform that they could revitalize the forest to help it regrow, and that they could always rebuild the village. But she still couldn't help feeling bad for it all. A few figures that turned past a corner caught her eye. It was the elder with the others. The nightfright quickly went out the door of the hut and ran up to the group. Before anyone could say anything, Nina tackle-hugged Yoshi and Neko nearly knocking them over as they yelped in surprise. "You're all awake. I was so worried about you." She said hugging them tighter. "Ah, hey, there's no need to worry bout us. Yoshi and I are tough as nails." Neko said with a chuckle as he and Yoshi hugged her back. Nina was about to release the two from her hug but felt someone else hugging her. Looking beside her, she saw that it was Wendy. With a smile, the nightfright knelt down and ruffled the little mages hair making her giggle a bit. "Glad to see you're alright as well Wendy."

The group soon talked with the elder about the future of the village and how they planned on rebuilding and regrowing the forest. They seemed to have it all under control. They also had sealed Grimshade in a sort of pocket dimension prison. It was also decided that since the books had become soulbound, they could be kept, although Yoshi didn't really want the book in the first place. Soon the crew decided it was their time to leave. "Gonna miss this place." Yoshi said adjusting his hat before turning to the village elder. "Don't die on me anytime soon old man, the world needs your wisdom and support." He said earning a laugh from the elder. "Don't you die either youngster, the world needs your hope and spirit." The elder said as he pointed his staff at the pirate. Yoshi grinned and waved as he and the others walked off out the village entrance. They stopped a ways away from the village when they heard the sound of someone running after them. Turning around, the group saw it was Wendy, and that she had a backpack on with her staff held to it. "Wendy? What are you doing here?" Nina questioned. Wendy nervously pulled at the straps of her backpack. "Well, umm, I was thinking…" she started, a call in the distance interrupted her and she stiffened. "Wendy!" Ethan shouted running up to the group. "What are you doing out here?! You had me worried sick" Ethan said trying to catch his breath. "If I understand correctly, I assume she wants to join us." Diesel spoke. "What! Wendy, that's crazy. I could never allow you to leave on your own to travel with a crew of pirates, even if they are good." Ethan stated. "But Uncle Ethan, look at them. They don't have anyone that can heal them if they get hurt. They need me." Wendy reasoned. Before Ethan could respond, Yoshi spoke up. "Why don't you come with as well?" He asked, the question catching Ethan off guard. "What? I- I can't do that, the village needs me to protect it!" Ethan said. "Well, not really, we pretty much took out the only group that was a threat to them, right?" Yoshi said smiling. Ethan tried thinking of another reason, but with a look at Wendy's pleading blue eyes he sighed in defeat.

Back at the wrecked cloning mechanism, two figures looked at the wreckage. "Man, now I'm glad Alex had us leave to check on what that thing was." One said as he kicked a piece of scrap. "Ya think it was that Bloodmoon Bunny who did this?" He continued. "I don't know Bobby. But what do we do now?" The other said with a slight whimper. Bobby put his arm around the other dark mage. "Benny bro, we got a world of opportunities now. No Grimshade, no bogus prophecies. We're our own leaders now." Bobby said with a bit of a cheer. "I wouldn't say that." A figure said behind them. The two dark mages jumped and turned around. "Wha- you?! You're that scientist who built the cloning mechanism!" Bobby said with a point at the figure. "Hmm, indeed, or should I say I was the scientist." He said. Bobby faltered at that. "Wha-what's that supposed to mean?" He questioned. Benny meanwhile got a bad feeling. "Let's just say…" The figure started as a green mist emanated from him that made the two dark mages start choking. The figure brought out what looked like a piece of an amulet. "Thanks to some research and experiments…" the figure said as his form vaporized into gas before reforming itself. "I have been reborn into my old self that I thought was long lost. And I wish to bring others I once knew back as well, but I need a bit of help…" the green mist thickened around Benny and Bobby. "And I'm not taking no for an answer." The figure said.

~ Epilogue: Sail, Durem Pirates!

With Ethan agreeing to join, the group made their way out of the charred forest into the south Barton Fields and made their way passed the gnome village once more. Nina once again caught a glimpse of the big muscular gnome and swore he looked like the gnome kingdoms leader from her world. Perhaps they were parallels? A convo from the group caught her attention. "So you're from Durem Yoshi? Great place I gotta admit. I spent a few years there after some events of my past happened." Ethan said walking with his hands locked behind his head. Remmy let out a laugh. "Gotta say, I love the Durem lifestyle. If it weren't for Aekea's tech and surplus of scrap and spare parts that would be where I would live." The zurg said. Neko got an idea and twirled his lucky black cane. "Well, since we all like Durem so much, how about we call ourselves the Durem Pirates! We could make Yoshi's house there our home base with a little remodeling." He said making Yoshi turn to him. "But that'll be alot of work and heavy lifting." The pirate whined. The feline then wrapped his arm around Yoshi's neck and noogied him. "And you call me the lazy one!" He said making the rest of the group laugh.

After a few stops to grab supplies and various items, the group made their way to the Gambino Harbor. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Grand Crimson." Yoshi said gesturing to the giant red ship. Wendy stared at it in awe and Ethan had to admit it was an impressive looking vessal. He loved the design, but he was confused at part of it. "What's with the gold platings?" He asked. Yoshi chuckled and led the way aboard the ship. "Let's set sail and you'll see." With that, the crew made their way on board and together they got the ship setting sail. After the harbor was out of sight Ethan and the others approached Yoshi at the helm. "Alright, we're sailing, now what's the deal with the gold plates along the ship. They seem pretty out of place." Ethan asked, the others seemed pretty curious as well. Yoshi and Neko smirked at each other. "Ready to show em?" Neko asked. In response, Yoshi gave a twist to one of the handles on the helm and a button was revealed. With a press of the button, mechanical whirring was heard in the ship and the plates on the sides clanged open as giant metal tube structures extended out of them. Several jaws dropped. "No… way…" With a slight jolt and the sound of thrusters along the bottom of the vessel igniting, the Grand Crimson began lifting out of the water. A console of different controls, gauges and screens rose up around the helm. "Now then, the seven seas, and the open skies, the world is filled with adventure and mystery. Let us meet the unknown at full force and fly into tomorrow." Yoshi said with pride and enthusiasm. With a cheer from his friends and crew, the pirate captain pulled a lever that ignited the large thrusters, setting course for the great blue skies.


End file.
